Ecomobi

Winner



The winning design, from Polish studio Mobius Architects, is intended to be built on top of tower blocks of social housing common in eastern Europe but found throughout the world.



The three architects involved, Przemek Olczyk, Wojtek Gawinowski and Wojtek Sumlet, learned during research that the roofs of many of these tower blocks are unused and over-engineered. They can easily support additional development in the form of lightweight housing and green roofs, they say.



(Image: Mobius Architects/Architecture for Humanity Vancouver)

All the furniture inside the house is integrated into the walls to make best use of space.



Built with wooden frames insulated with hemp fibres, the houses are intended to be easily expandable. For example, it should be straightforward to add a second level to the basic design.



(Image: Mobius Architects/Architecture for Humanity Vancouver)

Thick-Skinned Regionalism

Runner-up



Cities worldwide grow outwards, but leave the large rivers at their historical centres unused, realised the London-based architects behind this idea.



Their design makes use of that space. Each of the floating homes is built from 49 wooden layers, or "ribs", with chequered walls on each end to provide storage and let in light.



The ribs have varying shapes so that when layered together they create "furniture" in the building's structure.



(Image: Daniel Preusse, Bo Yoon and Matthew Fajkus/Architecture for Humanity Vancouver) Advertisement

Pods

Runner-up



Shawn Blackwell and Kate Fretz of Blackwell Architecture, based in Vancouver, Canada, focused on making construction of a fully functional home possible in a short period of time.



Building involves defining the house's outline with four "pods" that between them contain all the services needed to make a house work, including plumbing and electricity connections, and heating.



Floor, roof and wall panels span the gaps between the pods to complete the house and enclose the main living area.



(Image: Blackwell Architecture/Architecture for Humanity Vancouver)

From Parking to Living

Honourable mention



Some of the most desirable land in São Paulo, Brazil, is given over to car parks run by the landowners as they speculate on future land prices.



Danilo Hideki Abe, Mayra Rodrigues and Régis Sugaya of Áporo Arquitetura in São Paulo think this land would be better used to site prefab homes that can allow more efficient use of the space, but also quickly make way for more permanent development in future.



The homes take up around two parking spaces each and are largely made from corrugated polyurethane, with wooden panels and a metal frame.



(Image: Áporo Arquitetura/Architecture for Humanity Vancouver)

Urban Tree House

Honourable mention



As cities grow, many architects look to expand upwards into vertical space, but Jason Labutka of New York architects Jason David Designs wants to expand horizontally, to use the "negative space" above city streets.



Cantilevering makes it possible to sling the 3-by-12-metre structure over the roadway, level with the tree canopy to make an "urban tree house". The street-side "entry box" takes care of services like plumbing and also provides storage for bicycles. Stairs lead to the living areas.



While the cantilever and entry box would need to be constructed on site, the living area can be prefabricated and lifted into place.



(Image: Jason David Designs/Architecture for Humanity Vancouver)

Spontaneous House

Honourable mention



Designed by Claudia Bastos Coelho and Mariana Matayoshi at Cobogó Team based in Diadema, Brazil, this was partly inspired by the "spontaneous" structures that appear in slums and other densely populated urban areas when people take building into their own hands.



The individual prefabricated pods are designed to be stacked in a variety of ways, making it possible to create analogues of a variety of housing arrangements, such as tower blocks and low terraces.



(Image: Cobogó Team/Architecture for Humanity Vancouver)