Introduction

COMPETITION ORGANISERS
Berlin Affordable 
Housing Challenge
Official partner
Berlin Affordable 
Housing Challenge

The Berlin Affordable Housing Challenge is part of Bee Breeders’ Affordable Housing competition series. Run in partnership with ARCHHIVE BOOKS, this competition tasked participants with submitting innovative design proposals for tackling Berlin’s housing crisis.

Germany’s new government, formed in 2021, has vowed to make affordable housing a centerpiece of its agenda. Berlin, the capital city and the country’s center of gravity for entrepreneurship and new business, is in particular feeling extreme housing market pressures. According to an article published by NPR during the period of this competition, eight out of 10 city residents are now renters, where rent has increased 42% since 2016, and where an average of 40,000 new residents arrive each year.

Bee Breeders’ Affordable Housing design series posits that there is no one right answer to making housing affordable. Today, a host of new ideas and platforms are enabling people to own or purchase homes. These creative methods include everything from community co-living facilities, to 3D-printed homes, stackable modular homes and new forms of transit-oriented development.

There were no specific design or site requirements for this competition. Proposals were requested to be flexible, enabling accommodations for a variety of inhabitant types: single professionals, couples, families, or group living. The brief sought designs for a pilot-phase concept for affordable housing, which could be carried out within Berlin to increase its housing stock.

Bee Breeders collaborated with a regional and international interdisciplinary jury panel. The full panel included: Enlai Hooi, the Head of Innovation at Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects in Copenhagen, Denmark; Samuel Gonçalves, founder of SUMMARY, an architectural practice based in Porto, Portugal; Maya Mahgoub-Desai the Chair of Environmental Design at OCAD University and a practicing Urban Designer and Planner with Moriyama Teshima Architects; Alexander Sacharow of Berlin-based Penthaus à la Parasit, a political advisor, activist and artist whose fields of expertise are housing, economics and foreign policy; Andreas Tjeldflaat, Norway-based founder of Framlab and a member of the Real Estate Market advisory group for UNECE; and Jakob Wirth of Berlin-based Penthaus à la Parasit, an artist, activist and sociologist whose work focuses on public space.

Selected winning designs will be featured in ARCHHIVE BOOKS’ next issue of its publication series What is Affordable Housing? Bee Breeders and its jury panel thank all individuals and teams that submitted proposals.

We sincerely thank our jury panel
for their time and expertise

Enlai Hooi

Head of Innovation at Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects

Denmark

Alexander Sacharow

Penthaus à la Parasit

Germany

Jakob Wirth

Penthaus à la Parasit

Germany

Samuel Gonçalves

Founder, SUMMARY

Portugal

Maya Mahgoub-Desai

Chair of Environmental Design, OCAD University

Canada

Daniel Wu

Product manager, Immuta

USA

Andreas Tjeldflaat

Founder, Framlab

Norway

Mauricio Quirós Pacheco

Architect and Assistant Professor, University of Toronto

Canada

1st Prize Winner

Project name

Roofs of Berlin

Authors
Moritz Maier
Ruonan Wang
Country
Germany

2nd Prize Winner

Project name

EXTRA - In the light of shadows

Competitions usually have fewer design restrictions than other types of architectural work. It gives you the liberty to look at things from a different angle and you have the chance to come up with unconventional solutions. We belief this practice is important to generate innovation and we enjoy being part of it.

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Authors
Ana Richter de Arce
Jakob Fischer
Country
Germany

3rd Prize Winner

Project name

Shaking hands

Company
Authors
Alexander Starikov
Evgeniy Chebyshev
Evgeniy Goman
Anna Isaeva
Country
Russian Federation

BB GREEN AWARD +
ARCHHIVE STUDENT AWARD

Project name

EPAL Haus Berlin

I think competition is a stage for the young architect. As an architecture student, I want to prove myself and measure my designing level through worldwide competition.

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Author
Hyosik Kim
Country
South Korea
+122 points Buildner University Rankings

Honorable Mentions

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Project name

Wall Living Stations

Author
Monika Rudnicka
Country
Germany
Project name

3S HOUSING

Authors
Yun-jeong Na
Park Kahyun
Seo Eunji
Country
South Korea
Project name

Dwelling: Intertwined

University
Authors
Kaylee Lamb
Alexander Johnsson
Palina Siarheyeva
Kristina Striewe
Country
Sweden
+72 points Buildner University Rankings
Project name

Urban Shelf

Authors
Asli Aydin
Yining Cong
Karla Citlalli Contreras Marin
Liujun Chen
Country
Turkey
Project name

W-Bahn living

Author
Michail Davydov
Country
Russian Federation
Project name

FROM COMMERCIAL TO COMMON

Authors
Maura Schmitt
Mascha Creutz
Jenny Neubig
Country
Germany

Shortlisted projects

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MERGE - Anchored Community Living

Daniel Connors
Australia

Berlin Joint Cluster

Paulo Sembrano
Australia

W-Bahn living

Michail Davydov

Dialectica (Spectrum Group)

Russian Federation

Berlin affordable housing challenge: Uphold Berlin Mix

Rifat Mahzabin
Md nazmul Hossain
Bangladesh

Urban Shelf

Asli Aydin
Yining Cong
Karla Citlalli Contreras Marin
Liujun Chen
Turkey

Green City of Containers

Mohammadreza Abbaspourmeskin
Germany

Fabric House

Ossi Kunnas

Technische Universität Berlin, TU Berlin

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Finland

Infinite Infill

Nouhaila Zergane
Maia Villanueva

Polytechnic University of Madrid (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid)

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Spain

FROM COMMERCIAL TO COMMON

Maura Schmitt
Mascha Creutz
Jenny Neubig
Germany

Urban 'MODULator'

Hanyu Zheng
China

bandbau

Tianyi Han
Prajakta Thipsay
Jenny Morrill
Madison Irwin

DRAW Architecture + Urban Design

United States

ReHabilitation

Vanessa Jansen

Technische Universität Darmstadt, TU Darmstadt

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Germany

Refuge(e) within the Community

Christina Hristova
Macourley James
Dan Gibbons
United Kingdom

EXTRA - In the light of shadows

Ana Richter de Arce
Jakob Fischer
Germany

Adaptive Commoning: A System for Co-Inhabiting Abandoned Buildings in Berlin.

Ioanna Peponi
United Kingdom

Re-Activating the Plattenbau

Sophie Ho
Mhairi Dickie
Runqian Lu
United Kingdom

[CONTAINED] BRÄCHEN

Geon yeong Kim
Poyen Huang
Ching En Lin
United Kingdom

Shaking hands

Alexander Starikov
Evgeniy Chebyshev
Evgeniy Goman
Anna Isaeva

Syntaxis

Russian Federation

Plus One

Mutaz Alabtah
Mariia Khalimon
Batool Alkheder
Sweden

Roofs of Berlin

Moritz Maier
Ruonan Wang
Germany

Berlin Affordable Housing Challenge

Antonella Marzi
Viviane Viniarski
Jose Gerardo Ponte

Gate Architects

Italy

Take the Streets!

Max Strömberg bååth
Alva Stenlund
Alexis Chastain
Leonard Florian anton
Sweden

HOW NOT TO BUILD ANYTHING

Raphael Börlin
Sara Mohtadi
Oscar Kylmä
Sweden

Dwelling: Intertwined

Kaylee Lamb
Alexander Johnsson
Palina Siarheyeva
Kristina Striewe
Sweden

ProBiosis

Carlota De haan
Amanda Lagerkvist
Johanna Schweitz fåhraeus
Amir Ebrahimian
Sweden

Mansard house

Ivan Kozyrenko
Arina Kim
Anastasia Manjak
Russian Federation

Villa Redux

Joseph Loreto
Ramsey Leung
Canada

Palimpsesto

Rubén Ortega gonzález
Alejandro Rausell olivares
Bernardo Esquembre hernández
Cristina Sequero barrera
Spain

Wall Living Stations

Monika Rudnicka
Germany

Project Bernacular

Alex Cook
United Kingdom

"OPEN SESAME"

The quang Ngo
Hoang minh Tran
Ngoc anh Chu thi
Viet anh Pham

Hanoi Architectural University

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Vietnam

Additive Housing Berlin

Douglas Furia

Lawrence Technological University

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
United States

Stacked family homes

David Windt

derksen windt architecten

Netherlands

3S HOUSING

Yun-jeong Na
Park Kahyun
Seo Eunji
South Korea

EPAL Haus Berlin

Hyosik Kim
South Korea

Stepped Court yard

Ali Andaji garmaroodi
Iran

Berlin Affordable Housing

Erfan Shakibaei
Ali Shakibaei
Mohammadhossein Salmani
Avaa Ranjbar
Iran

Berlin A Living Continuum

Zifeng Ye
Zixuan Xiong
United Kingdom

Soziale Hochgarten

Mehrave Mokhtarian
Hanie Norouzi
Iran

Berlin Affordable Housing Challenge - a 12 step plan

Peter Willett
Yuelei (lorraine) Li
Cindy Lin
Australia