Introduction

COMPETITION ORGANISERS
Las Vegas Affordable 
Housing Challenge

Buildner is pleased to present the results to the Las Vegas Affordable Housing Challenge!

This competition is part of Buildner’s Affordable Housing series, in partnership with ARCHHIVE BOOKS, showcasing projects that invent new means for driving down housing prices. Designers were tasked with proposing a flexible, innovative, pilot-phase concept for affordable housing within Greater Las Vegas.

Buildner’s 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, new zoning policies and new forms of transit-oriented development.

In 2017, Las Vegas was revealed to be the least affordable city in the USA for renters, with the biggest shortage of affordable and available rental homes according to figures from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. It was found that Las Vegas only had 12 affordable rental units available for every 100 households classified as “extremely low income.” This situation is untenable.

This competition tasked participants with proposing design-related solutions to the city’s housing crisis. They were encouraged to submit flexible solutions to accommodate a range of unit sizes including families, single professionals, and couples. There was no set competition site or scale, and participants were encouraged to be as creative as possible. The jury sought projects that challenge typical ideas of housing, design, and the community at large, while at the same time maintaining a practical element that could potentially see these designs realized.

Buildner collaborated with a regional and international interdisciplinary jury panel: Craig Galati is a Principal of Las Vegas*based architecture firm LGA and has received honors including the AIA “Nevada Service Award,” and the American Planning Association “DeBoer Excellence in Planning Award” for his outstanding service on the City of Las Vegas Planning Commission; Avi Friedman is a professor of architecture at McGill University Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture and president of Avi Friedman Consultants, a design firm with a focus on affordable and sustainable residential environments; Persis Lam is an associate at Toronto-based Diamond Schmitt Architects as well as executive member of Building Equality in Architecture Toronto (BEAT); Dr. Steffen Lehmann is a tenured full Professor of Architecture and former Executive Director of schools of architecture, including the UNLV School of Architecture in Las Vegas; Christina Lennox is the Cofounder and Chief Product Officer of Brownstone, a shared housing company which makes sleeping pods that transform existing homes into affordable shared living arrangements; Maya Mahgoub-Desai is the Chair of Environmental Design at OCAD University and a practicing Urban Designer and Planner with Moriyama Teshima Architects whose research focuses on public health; Fotini Pitoglou is a licensed architect in Ontario, Canada, the UK and Greece and a lead architect on hospitality projects at Toronto-based FORREC as well as an executive member of Building Equality in Architecture Toronto; Caitlin J. Saladino serves as the Director of Strategic Development at The Lincy Institute and Brookings Mountain West, a public policy think tank focused on improving health, education, economic development, governance, non-profits, and social services in Nevada; and Andreas Tjeldflaat, who is the founder of Framlab, a New York and Bergen-based design studio.

Buildner and its jury panel thank all individuals and teams that submitted proposals.

We sincerely thank our jury panel
for their time and expertise

Dr. Caitlin J. Saladino

Director of Strategic Development at The Lincy Institute and Brookings Mountain West

USA

Christina Lennox

Cofounder and Chief Product Officer of Brownstone

USA

Dr. Steffen Lehmann

UNLV School of Architecture

USA

Avi Friedman

Professor at McGill University

USA

Craig Galati

Principal and Shareholder of architecture firm LGA

USA

Maya Mahgoub-Desai

Chair of Environmental Design, OCAD University

Canada

Persis Lam

Associate Architect, Diamond Schmitt Architects

Canada

Fotini Pitoglou

Architect, FORREC

Canada

Andreas Tjeldflaat

Founder, Framlab

Norway

Enter the next competition edition
Denver 
Single-Stair 
Housing Challenge

Design single staircase, multi-story residential housing in Denver

Affordable Housing Series 18th Edition ideas COMPETITION

1st Prize Winner

Project name

(still) LEARNING FROM LAS VEGAS

Architecture competitions of this nature allow anyone to challenge and provide a fresh approach to existing design dogmas. It is an incredible chance to step away from the conventional means of execution and present a different perspective to a broader audience. It helps to facilitate change in the profession through exposure and discussion, as well as one’s own professional growth. Competitions are a great venue for experimentation, and a laboratory to unpack and test design philosophies.

Read full interview
Author
Chang Yuan Max Hsu
Country
United States
  • 9/10 Linework
  • 9/10 Quality of drawings
  • 8/10 Balance of color
  • 9/10 Layout
  • 9/10 Hierarchy
  • 8/10 Annotation
  • 8/10 Text
  • 10/10 Clarity of story
  • 8/10 Clarity of diagrams
  • 9/10 Quality of overall presentation

2nd Prize Winner

Project name

Common Ground

Authors
Ran Zhang
Pengyu Chen
Yijie Zhang
Country
China
  • 7/10 Linework
  • 8/10 Quality of drawings
  • 8/10 Balance of color
  • 8/10 Layout
  • 6/10 Hierarchy
  • 7/10 Annotation
  • 7/10 Text
  • 9/10 Clarity of story
  • 9/10 Clarity of diagrams
  • 8/10 Quality of overall presentation

3rd Prize Winner

Project name

Affordable Life

Competition is the moment to be involved in different themes and scale, sometimes to do pure research with less constraints of real world, sometimes to confront with projects about your professional interests to indagate new solutions.

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Author
Daniele Borin
Country
Italy
  • 8/10 Linework
  • 8/10 Quality of drawings
  • 9/10 Balance of color
  • 9/10 Layout
  • 9/10 Hierarchy
  • 8/10 Annotation
  • 7/10 Text
  • 8/10 Clarity of story
  • 8/10 Clarity of diagrams
  • 8/10 Quality of overall presentation

Buildner Student Award

Project name

LOA - Land of all

Personally, I see architecture competitions as an intellectual delight and a way to acknowledge and measure the current practices on an international basis. Also, it is a way to improve my skills of design and graphic representation and keep them at the sharpest level.

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  • 6/10 Linework
  • 7/10 Quality of drawings
  • 9/10 Balance of color
  • 8/10 Layout
  • 8/10 Hierarchy
  • 8/10 Annotation
  • 7/10 Text
  • 10/10 Clarity of story
  • 8/10 Clarity of diagrams
  • 9/10 Quality of overall presentation

Buildner Sustainability Award

Project name

The Urban Drawer Cabinet Project - Affordable Housing in Las Vegas

I'm taking part in architecture competitions because I enjoy developing new ideas and turning them into designs.

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Author
Wenlong Lu
Country
Germany
  • 6/10 Linework
  • 7/10 Quality of drawings
  • 9/10 Balance of color
  • 8/10 Layout
  • 8/10 Hierarchy
  • 8/10 Annotation
  • 7/10 Text
  • 10/10 Clarity of story
  • 8/10 Clarity of diagrams
  • 9/10 Quality of overall presentation

Honorable Mentions

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Project name

Autodidacticism Community

Author
Ruichen Xu
Country
United States
Project name

Lone Mountain Dunes

Authors
Patrick Kotowski
William Bargerhuff
Country
Poland
Project name

Living In Tunnel

Authors
Lulu Safitri Wijaya Jonni
Dhiya Luthfiyyah
Nadia Putri Humaira
Country
Indonesia
+72 points Buildner University Rankings
Project name

MAS APARTMENT COMPLEX

Authors
Gantumur Bujinlkham
lujain ahmad mohamadamen
Sara Ardalan Hussein
Country
Hungary
+72 points Buildner University Rankings
Project name

LAS VEGAS AFFORDABLE RESIDENTIAL HOUSING INITIATIVE (LAARI)

Authors
Weston Baumgartner
Inesa Gishto
Country
United States
Project name

Building Blocks

Authors
Emanuele Carenzo
Federico Rodio
Martina Conti
Country
Italy

Shortlisted projects

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Rammed Earth Nevada

Ashley Cloud
United States

APT with creating Semi-Public Open Space

Yunjeong Lee

Sejong University, 세종대학교

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
South Korea

SOAVE

Arjan Hebly
Frank - alexander Schnater - de ridder
Sitong Luo
Netherlands

THE BAR AND THE VOID PROJECT

Paola Corella

The Central University of Ecuador - Universidad Central del Ecuador

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Ecuador

Project ID 99604

Alejandro Orbe

The Central University of Ecuador - Universidad Central del Ecuador

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Ecuador

Affordable Family House Plan

Kitti zsanett Drőzer
Kitti Rácz
Soundharya Sivasubramanian

University of Pécs Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Hungary

LIVING TURBINE

Paweł Gmitruk
Kamila Szczepańska
Jagoda Sabaj

Wroclaw University of Science and Technology (Politechnika Wrocławska)

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Poland

Capsule Reef

Ahmad Nouraldeen
Francesco Angiulli
Naim Zgheib
Hassan Roumieh

snono studio

United Arab Emirates

Life Line

Amr Mohamed
Hussein Maher

Faculty of Engineering, Architecture Department - Helwan University

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Egypt

MINI COMMUNITY IN LAS VEGAS

Sarah Marzouk
Salwa Hamati
Hazem Shahrour

University of Pécs Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Hungary

Building Blocks

Emanuele Carenzo
Federico Rodio
Martina Conti
Italy

3x1 FLEX Living Units - Home for Everyone

Qu Xingyu
Ezgi Demirci
Yufei Zhang
Raneen Al-alam
Hungary

MAS APARTMENT COMPLEX

Gantumur Bujinlkham
lujain ahmad mohamadamen
Sara Ardalan Hussein

University of Pécs Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology

+72 points Buildner University Rankings!
Hungary

Hexahills

Denver Fernandes
Altan-Od Baatarsuren
Jedsadaphon Thianphimai
John Francis
United Kingdom

Common Ground

Ran Zhang
Pengyu Chen
Yijie Zhang
China

Living In Tunnel

Lulu Safitri Wijaya Jonni
Dhiya Luthfiyyah
Nadia Putri Humaira
Indonesia

Anteros Estates Net Zero Affordable Housing

Dylan King
Erin Ashton
Calvin Stuka
Sofiya Tsenova
Canada

TYPE -0

Zhi xue Chung
Zan Liang Gareth Mah
Singapore

(still) LEARNING FROM LAS VEGAS

Chang Yuan Max Hsu
United States

The Photovoltaic Dingbat w/o Soft Story

Mark Bucciarelli
United States

The Screen - A concept of affordable living and sustainable technologies

Giancarlo Gemma
Vignesh srinivas Venkatraman

Studio Gemma Progettazione

Italy

Ending Homelessness Through Transitional Housing & Low-Income Housing

Caryl jean Grubbs
United States

Autodidacticism Community

Ruichen Xu
United States

Dice home

Tomasz Grzyb
Poland

HESUD Las Vegas

Rebecca Ohlin
United States

Expandable Housing

Tarek Radwan
Maroun Semaan
Lebanon

The Modular Pavilion

Marion Philip

Marion PHILIP Design

France

LAS VEGAS AFFORDABLE RESIDENTIAL HOUSING INITIATIVE (LAARI)

Weston Baumgartner
Inesa Gishto
United States

Lone Mountain Dunes

Patrick Kotowski
William Bargerhuff
Poland

Domus

Sergio Barbosa
Natnael Dawit
United Kingdom

LOA - Land of all

Sofia Machado

Centro Universitário Belas Artes , Fine Arts - Unit 3

+72 points Buildner University Rankings!
Brazil

CASA C.S.T

Natchanon Rungruengwuthikul
Thailand

Vegas Strips

Yinjie Tian
Minghao Yang
Peter Himmelstein
Jeff Soler

THECALIFORNIAOFFICE

United States

Connecting Vegas

Alex Cook
Valarie Tsang
Zargona Kahn
Siba Daoud
United Kingdom

Empty Nest Project

敏懿(min-yi) 黃(huang)
林彣(lin-wen) 韋(wei)
Cheng-yang Huang
Taiwan

The Urban Drawer Cabinet Project - Affordable Housing in Las Vegas

Wenlong Lu
Germany

Affordable Life

Daniele Borin
Italy

Hanging Houses in LasVegas

Fatemeh Zareian

Iran University of Science and Technology

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Iran

LEGO OASIS IN DESERT

Kevin Pham
Alex Hoang
Australia