The city of Atlanta recently announced the top six submissions in the domestiCITY design competition. Launched in August by the Department of City Planning, domestiCITY is an initiative seeking innovative design ideas to promote more affordable housing options. The program garnered interest from 189 registrants across 15 countries. Ultimately, 20 teams submitted final design proposals.
DomestiCITY is the first affordable housing design competition in the Southeastern region. The competition called for teams to propose creative and replicable models for designing multi-family affordable housing units. Site specific requirements were based on the potential renovation of Santa Fe Villas, a four-acre 147-unit supportive housing development in Southwest Atlanta.
On Jan. 5, an independent jury panel comprised of design leaders, affordable housing experts and community representatives ranked the submissions based on: architectural innovation, architectural programming, economic feasibility and project replicability. In phase one, the domestiCITY jury selected six teams that will each receive a $20,000 cash prize. In phase two of the competition, two finalists of the six selected teams were chosen and will be awarded an additional $30,000 each to further develop their programming, project financials and design plans.
The top two finalists are Utile of Boston) and Lord Aeck Sargent of Atlanta.
“The finalists selected are a representation of just how visionary affordable housing should be,” says Tim Keane, Commissioner of the Department of City Planning. “DomestiCITY is the first of many initiatives to find new ways to design and build affordable housing on a broad scale in Atlanta but also across the country and internationally through pioneering designs. Affordable housing is a universal challenge and it’s time that we approach it with beautiful design in mind.”
Phase two of domestiCITY will conclude on Feb. 28. After the conclusion of the competition there will be a public exhibition to showcase the recognized design submissions.
Information: www.domesticity.org.
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