Foreword

As history has shown, affordable housing relies only in part on design. Its success is dependent on a number of complex factors including trends in the housing market, local and regional incomes, zoning, and land use policies. The construction or re-purposing of affordable housing infrastructure requires the support of politicians, city planners, and residents. Even when cities have had the best of intentions for such housing developments, results have often proven to be less-than-promised, due to failure enacting strong policies, poorly-chosen locations far from public transit networks, and faulty design solutions, among other variables. The Sydney Affordable Housing competition aimed at garnering global attention to the important issue of housing in Sydney, Australia, where the economy is strong but where residential space is among the least affordable according to surveys of major metropolitan markets.

The competition attracted a range of proposals that addressed this sensitive topic at all scales. As the design brief outlined, the jury evaluated proposals based on flexibility, and applicability to different locations across the city. The competition set no specific sites, and participants were requested to choose a theoretical site or collection of sites within Sydney. The jury evaluated equally those submissions proposed in the suburbs, and those inserted within the densest parts of the city.

A number of trends were evident in the proposals. Particularly noticeable was modular design. The jury evaluated positively those proposals which sought to create livable housing spaces, over those that attempted to make sense of interesting but altogether difficult modular geometries. Stacked hexagons, beehive forms, cubic buildings, prefabricated units that stack in different organisations over time, and the use of shipping containers were examples of typologies proposed in multiple submissions, many of which were successful.

Another topic several proposals sought to tackle was affordability of construction: prefabrication; adaptive re-use of materials from existing infrastructure; locating obsolete, under-used, or under-valued sites within Sydney; establishing completely new financing models based on leveraging the tech industry, or municipally-owned lands like streets, highways, and park systems; or balancing profit-earning commercial spaces with low-income housing units. The most interesting submissions offered much more than just affordable housing, and included larger-scale urban plans for commercial spaces, transit-oriented development, transportation hubs, and green spaces, in an attempt to give new value to lands, thereby recapturing development costs.

The jury reviewed each of the proposals and asked: What is specific to Sydney about the design? Does the idea have potential to offer real affordable housing solutions? Does it also strengthen the city fabric in some other way? Even if abstract and conceptual, can it push the city to reconsider housing in new ways? Bee Breeders was impressed with the range of submissions and would like to thank each participant.

COMPETITION ORGANISERS
Sydney Affordable 
Housing Challenge
Official partner
Sydney Affordable 
Housing Challenge Sydney Affordable 
Housing Challenge Sydney Affordable 
Housing Challenge
Enter the next competition edition
Under
Bridge

Turning unused bridge areas into lively homes

Affordable Housing Series 17th Edition ideas COMPETITION

1st Prize Winner

Project name

Bridging Affordable Housing

Through the NIKA Creative Lab, we are always looking for ways to cultivate new ideas in a collaborative ‘lab’ environment. Vision competitions are the perfect place to test and build a conceptual model of organic design ideas that can influence research and real projects in future.

Read full interview
Country United States

2nd Prize Winner +
BB STUDENT AWARD

Project name

Newborn in the Crevice

We sincerely hope that through the power of architecture, we can eliminate the imbalances and inequalities among the urban classes and find a dignified way of living for the low-income groups.

Read full interview
Authors Xu Jiatong, Gao Xinyuan, Shi Ying,
Country China
+148 points Buildner University Rankings

3rd Prize Winner

Project name

TOD and Waterfront Housing

For us participation in architecture vision competitions is a great opportunity to develop our skills and broaden our perspective. Most importantly we treat this as a new experience and we wouldn’t be able to have this sitting around doing nothing.

Read full interview
Authors Olga Filipowska, Tomasz Twaróg,
Country Poland
+76 points Buildner University Rankings

BB GREEN AWARD

Project name

Water smart home Sydney

We are interested in creating designs that are driven by social causes, context-related, environmentally sustainable and have positive influences on people’s lives.

Read full interview
Authors Kevin Pham, Alex Hoang,
Country Australia

Honorable Mentions

Show Honorables Mentions (6 of 6) Hide Honorables Mentions projects
Project name

The Green Line

Authors Derek Huynh, Raj Gandhi, Tony Yu, Ong Eik Ren
Country Australia
+72 points Buildner University Rankings
Project name

In between city: Harbour Life

Authors Sylvain Garcia, Camille Grand-Dupré,
Country Australia
Project name

Affordability of the 21 Century

Authors Yun-shih Chen, Antoine Canazzi,
Country Netherlands
Project name

Urban Infill

Country Australia
Project name

Sydney Affordable Housing Challenge

Authors Junyoung Hong,
Country South Korea
Project name

The Flat that grows

Country Australia

Shortlisted projects

Show Shortlisted projects Hide Shortlisted projects

Expand and Contract

Feliccia Monteiro

Australia

HYBRID HOUSING

Agata Tomińska

Silesian University of Technology

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Poland

NIMBY (Neighbourhood In My BackYard) SYDNEY LANE

Rujnumporn Keskasemsook

Nuttachat Kosintranont

Warittha Leelasestaporn

Sira Temjai

SOOK ARCHITECTS COMPANY LIMITED

Thailand

Hous_d

Milikani Khupe

Derek Faure

Australia

DAPT

Nithin Antony

Sharannya Kt

Kritika Jeff

Studio Gritt

India

Sydney Affordable Housing Challenge

Junyoung Hong

South Korea

Urban Infill

Brent Winburn

Lachlan Joseph

Australia

Link-Sydney`s Future Catalyst

Maha Atef

Wafaa Nadim

Joy Samuel

Yara Salama

Egypt

Rail Top Nestle

Rishi thirth Bennabhaktula

Hanisha thirth Bennabhaktula

Ramathirtha Bennabhaktula

India

Claiming The Edge

Lara Calder

Calder Flower Architects

Australia

In between city: Harbour Life

Sylvain Garcia

Camille Grand-Dupré

Australia

Here_ Now Architecture

Odyssey Babasadeghian

Sara Ahmadi

Mehrnaz Kashiri

Mazdak Irani

shavmadbana

Iran

Inhabiting The Wall

Robert Meyerson

Harvard University Graduate School of Design

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
United States

HomeTime

Mat Reid

Australia

Nathira Haja

C Design

Malaysia

Bridging Affordable Housing

Tae Jung

Pauline Sipin

Hazel Ventura

Diana Lopez

United States

BACK TO THE ROOTS

Aleksandr Umnyashov

Akmaral Khasen

Mariya Surzhko

Victor Timofeev

Apex Project Bureau

Russian Federation

Sydney Modern Insula - Tiny Townhouses

Stanislav Metzger

Germany

Modular+Incremental

Mukesh Vanjani

Luke Carter

Dain Mcclure-thomas

Sandbox Studio Architecture & Design

Australia

insta-ADvertising Housing

Chariton Lazarides

The University of Nicosia

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Cyprus

Home is Where the Waste Is

Tatiana idalia Ioannidou martinez

The University of Nicosia

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Greece

GADGETIC NOMADISM

Nicolas Ioannou

The University of Nicosia

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Cyprus

Appliance Colony

Nurshan Arpalikli

The University of Nicosia

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Cyprus

TOD and Waterfront Housing

Olga Filipowska

Tomasz Twaróg

PODHALE STATE COLLEGE OF APPLIED SCIENCES IN NOWY TARG

+76 points Buildner University Rankings!
Poland

Base10

Rachel Fay

Olivia Green

Australia

Newborn in the Crevice

Xu Jiatong

Gao Xinyuan

Shi Ying

Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts

+148 points Buildner University Rankings!
China

The Checkerboard

Lianna Mclean

Aaron Chen

Australia

GREEN STEEL - Scaffolding Lives~

Yat tin Yuen

Eric gar jun Li

Queensland University of Technology

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Australia

Missing Urban Abode

Arddy Berylian

Tirza Hutagalung

Australia

Lifting People To The New Heights Of Living

Luca Soldati

Simone Zanini

Roberto Faccin

Carlo Andrea Vescovi

Italy

Sunfluence

Aleksandra Kramnik

Adrianna Lenkowska

Poznan University of Technology

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Poland

Quality living on urban hidden layer

Jinwook Jang

South Korea

Affordability of the 21 Century

Yun-shih Chen

Antoine Canazzi

Netherlands

Tell Him He's Dreamin'

Jason Nunn

Australia

Crisis: [Contain]able

Julie Tse

New Zealand

The Green Line

Derek Huynh

Raj Gandhi

Tony Yu

Ong Eik Ren

The University of Melbourne

+72 points Buildner University Rankings!
Australia

WOOMOO

Yi-ju Tseng

Ines Benavente molina

Australia

CAR TO CRADLE

Alieth Barbet

Marie Chevrier

France

Hexagonal City

Mansour Alhazmi

Abdulrahman Nahas

Saudi Arabia

Microtropolis

Michelle Stark

Kainaaz Variava

Jahni Glasby

Australia

W-Housing

Rosa anna Senese

Emanuela Pozzi

Italy

The Flat that grows

Giang Vu

Hiep Che

Cuong Hoang

Duong Dang

Australia

The Wood

Dominic Lloyd

Ireland

Water smart home Sydney

Kevin Pham

Alex Hoang

Australia

C - BOX, The Modular Housing

Jazmín Rivera

Nataly Revelo

Ecuador

Sydney Affordable Housing

Sergei Zhuromskii

Olga Zhuromskaia

Russian Federation

Catalyst for Affordability

Michael Carrizosa

Rachel Crowe

United States

Prototype Apartment Architectural addition and subtraction

Chushi Liu

United States

The New Australian Dream

Benedikt Hartl

Thomas Haseneder

Germany

PYRAHOMES

Carrie Jim

Jessica Moon

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
United States

The Thin/Scene Edge

Catty dan Zhang

Mahdi Ghavidel-sedehi

Noah Nelson

Teagan Dorsch

United States