d3 HOUSING TOMORROW - The 2013 Competition Winners

The winning entries of the 2013 Housing Tomorrow competition have just been announced, awarding three prizes and sixteen special mentions to design concepts that "explore, document, analyze, transform, and deploy socially‐ and environmentally‐engaged approaches to residential urbanism, architecture, interiors, and designed objects."

This year's first prize was presented to Die Hu, Boji Hu, and Yang Zhou for their extreme environments housing proposal, 'Life on the Ropeway.'

The 2013 jury included Michael Gonzales of Gonzales Studio, Zui Lig Ng of ZDES, Shawn Lutz of HOK, John Tsai of JT ARC Studio; and Jonathan Wimmel of Prozign Architects. Gonzales, Tsai, and Ng teach design studios and lead seminars at the University of Houston’s Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture.

These are the winning projects:

First Prize: Life on the Ropeway
Die Hu, Boji Hu, & Yang Zhou (China)

Responding to villages threatened by flooding in the rural valleys of Sichuan, China, Life on the Ropeway suspends these villages onto cable systems above their original locations. This alternative housing system is based on the ropeway—it conforms to the natural features of the valley and supports social needs.

 

Second Prize: Biking/Living
Liu Qicai, Yue Kang, & Zuo Long (China)

The top‐down development of China has given rise to the mass production of low‐quality housing. Architects are increasingly losing their ground to real estate developers. Residential corridors are an extension of public life and play an important role in dwelling space and society. Biking/Living adapts Shanghai’s historic Longchang Apartment Building into nine new unit types which propose an adaptive and alternative bike‐focused lifestyle.

 

Third Prize: City Nomadism
Xijie Ma (China)

City Nomadism compresses living spaces into a compact living machine, integrating a vehicle with living spaces and adapting to the needs of the user. The concept offers an innovative lifestyle alternative, allowing urbanites to live in nature while participating freely in city life.

 

Following are the sixteen special mentions.

d3 Housing Tomorrow is co‐directed by Gregory Marinic and Ji Young Kim. Gregory Marinic is director of d3 and principal of Arquipelago, and serves as Assistant Professor of Architecture and Director of Interior Architecture at the University of Houston’s Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture. Ji Young Kim is a New York‐based researcher at Columbia University’s Japan‐Lab and designer in the office of Shigeru Ban.

In March 2013, d3 Housing Tomorrow 2013 winning submissions and special mentions were presented by Maki Iisaka and Gregory Marinic in their collaborative research presentation at the Seventh Annual Design Principles and Practices conference at Chiba University in Tokyo. The d3 Housing Tomorrow 2013 international architectural design exhibition will be held in Houston in March/April 2013. Sponsored by d3 and hosted by the Mashburn Gallery at the University of Houston’s Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, the exhibition will feature a broad range of winning projects, special mentions, and other notable projects.

All images courtesy of d3.