International Architecture Competition

San Francisco Affordable Housing Challenge

Affordable Housing Series #8

Results

Foreword

Competition organisers

San Francisco Affordable Housing Challenge

Official Partners

San Francisco Affordable Housing Challenge San Francisco Affordable Housing Challenge

The San Francisco 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 mitigating San Francisco’s affordable housing crisis. 

This design series above all poses that there is no one solution to making housing affordable. Today, a host of new ideas and platforms – especially those from companies emerging in and around the Bay Area – are enabling people to own or purchase homes. These creative methods include community co-living facilities, 3D-printed homes, crowd-funded home rehabilitation investment platforms, group home-ownership contracts, stackablemodular homes, planning amendments for municipally owned sites, and more. 

There were no specific design or site requirements for this competition. Project designs were requested to be flexible, enabling accommodations for a variety of inhabitant types: single professionals, couples, families, or group living.

The jury gave weight to designs that challenged standard housingtypologies, while at the same time incorporated practical design elements or means of implementation that could feasibly enable these projects to offer real solutions to San Francisco.

Selected winning designs will be featured in the ARCHHIVE Books’forthcoming publication, What is Affordable Housing?Bee Breeders thanks all individuals and teams that submitted proposals.

Enter the next
competition edition!

ideas COMPETITION
Los Angeles Affordable Housing Challenge
Affordable Housing Series #16

Design affordable housing solutions in Los Angeles

Prize: MONETARY AWARD
Eligibility: OPEN TO ALL

registration deadlines

Remind me
Jun 07
Sep 07
Nov 01
Register now

San Francisco Affordable Housing Challenge

Affordable Housing Series #8
1st Prize Winner

Project name

RETHINKING ROW-HOUSES / APARTMENTS BLOCKS

Authors

Martin Pretorius
Raphael Trischler

South Africa

Why do you enter architecture
competitions?

Architectural competitions are a representation of freedom where you get to explore your creative ability. An ability which should be exercised on a regular basis and used in practice. Designers face unique challenges in architectural competitions that might be uncommon in the area they practice, which helps an individual to learn the skill of adapting to change.

Jury feedback summary

Rethinking Row-houses and Apartment Blocks aims to redevelop San Francisco’s housing by means of a modular system that uses space more efficiently and introduces additional greenery to the city. Most strikingly, the stacked units integrate a bridge to allow this new community to transverse main streets. The jury describes the proposal: “Beautiful and elegant. It addresses land constraints and space constraints to develop a design for a lively community.” Such a development would of course require high-quality construction and well-considered design and finishes at the street level to ensure the streetscape does not become a dark space, like those beneath bridges and overpasses.

2nd Prize Winner +
BB STUDENT AWARD

Project name

Living Room, The Policy of Living Space in San Francisco

Authors

Arseny Pekurovsky
Chon Fai Kuok
Megan Gahlman

University

University of minnesota
+146 points Buildner University Rankings!

United States

Why do you enter architecture
competitions?

We are restless architecture students who are on a quest to learn and we welcome the opportunity to use a platform that supports innovative ideas which influence the future. Competitions are carte blanche for dreams.

Jury feedback summary

The goal of this project is to challenge existing development and housing policies, traditional housing typologies, and anti-development culture with the intention to create a fluid, resilient, and equitable housing market in San Francisco. It offers a ‘living room’ - a common space supporting a range of connected living arrangements. The jury states: “This is achievable with the right partners today.” Creative ownership models address key obstacles to affordable housing, and this specific project might enable a culturally rich environment with a diverse interaction among residents. As in all of the winning projects, additional focus on low-income residents would strengthen the proposal. Overall this is an excellent entry. 

3rd Prize Winner

Project name

Home sweet Home

Authors

Monica Lamela Blazquez
Sofia Betancur Velasquez

Spain

Why do you enter architecture
competitions?

We both enjoy participating in architecture vision competitions and have be doing it together for the last couple of years. We believe these competitions are the perfect platform to be critical of normative frameworks, to dream about unforeseen possibilities, and to explore radical visions that can inform our profession.

Jury feedback summary

Home Sweet Home identifies the interstate highways as precious, underused spaces within San Francisco. It places special focus on materials, recycling, and waste reduction. The jury describes the proposal as, “The most innovative yet practical proposal to solve the crisis.” If this idea were to be further developed, the jury questions: 1) How does this project get brought about vis-a-vis land rights and zoning? 2) What are the construction techniques and details? 3) how to prevent this design from descending over time into a slum-like condition?

BB GREEN AWARD

Project name

Timber Town

Authors

Bob Baum
April Philips
Jeff Brink
Peter Rumsey

United States

Why do you enter architecture
competitions?

We learn so much from participating in competitions. This vision competition allowed us to collaborate in an interdisciplinary way. It also gave us the opportunity to address the affordability crisis right outside our doors and on our sidewalks in San Francisco.

Honorable mentions

VIEWclose HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Project Name

Hidden Village

Country

United States

Project authors

Thomas Melville

Project Name

Garage Machine Accessory Dwelling Unit

Country

United States

Project authors

John Shapiro
Jason Vigneri-Beane
Marcel Negret

Project Name

LIMBY : Live In My Back Yard

University

Sejong university
+72 points Buildner University Rankings!

Country

South Korea

Project authors

Hyeonseok Kim
Heegon Kim
Donghwa Kim

Project Name

Interlaced Village

Country

United States

Project authors

Andy Chen

Project Name

The Permanent and the Transient

Country

United States

Project authors

Jee Hyung Park

Project Name

Revolving Home

Country

United States

Project authors

Taiming Chen
Zhendong Long

Shortlisted projects

VIEWclose Shortlisted projects

Spain

monica lamela blazquez
sofia betancur velasquez

Canada

Carleton University, Canada's Capital University

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
aniko nebozuk

United States

California College of the Arts

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
shengchieh lin

United States

California College of the Arts

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
michael min

United States

bob baum
april philips
jeff brink
peter rumsey

Hungary

lászló belkovits
attila batári
bernadett krizsó
gergő bauer

United States

taiming chen
zhendong long

United States

University of Minnesota

+146 points Buildner University Rankings!
arseny pekurovsky
chon fai kuok
megan gahlman

Chile

luis alejandro morales mendoza
patricio andrés zamora montes
leandro leonel quilodrán mendoza

South Korea

Sejong University, 세종대학교

+72 points Buildner University Rankings!
hyeonseok kim
heegon kim
donghwa kim

South Africa

martin pretorius
raphael trischler

United States

z. sunderland
john durkee

United States

john shapiro
jason vigneri-beane
marcel negret

United States

bryan alcorn
chelsea raflo

United States

jamilla afandi
ashish bhandari

China

University of Jinan

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
jue wang
qiaoqi yin
zizhen zhou

United States

kimberly butt
chris birkenmaier

United States

robert cody
angela amoia

Turkey

furkan avcı
Özüm ezgi satılmış

Belarus

Belarusian National Technical University

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
vladislav kusenkov
Аnna zhurko
 

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Run repeatedly
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Prize: MONETARY AWARD
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registration deadlines

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For this competition, NO DESCRIPTION TEXT is allowed. The architecture ideas must be communicated strictly with visuals.
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Prize: MONETARY AWARD
Eligibility: OPEN TO ALL

registration deadlines

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Mar 23
May 25
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Run repeatedly
Los Angeles Affordable Housing Challenge
Affordable Housing Series #16

Design affordable housing solutions in Los Angeles

Prize: MONETARY AWARD
Eligibility: OPEN TO ALL

registration deadlines

Remind me
Jun 07
Sep 07
Nov 01
Register now

Creativity gym Short term competitions for you to exercise your creativity

T-SHIRT DRAWING COMPETITION
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Design THE architect's t-shirt!

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registration deadlines

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May 31
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Submit your online portfolio!

Prize: 5,000 €
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registration deadlines

Remind me
Jun 30
Jul 31
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Register now

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Competition results

MICROHOME

MICROHOME

Small living, huge impact! Edition #4
Hong Kong 
Pixel Homes

Hong Kong Pixel Homes

Affordable Housing Series #2
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