THE streets are full of lurching, brain-hungry zombies and humanity faces extinction. Should you run for your life or stand your ground? Luckily, bespectacled men and woman who stare at blueprints have already started thinking about it. Architects are designing zombie-proof housing for Zombie Safe House, a design competition, now in its third year. It was originally devised by a trio of designers at Architects Southwest, an architectural firm in Louisiana, as an informal platform for colleagues to showcase their creative talents in a “pragmatically unconstrained format”, says co-founder Shea Trahan. It now attracts hundreds of students, practicing architects, industrial designers and artists from around the globe looking for an inventive way to boost their portfolios.

Warwick Mihaly and Erica Slocombe of Mihaly Slocombe Architects, an Australian firm, were finalists last year with a design called the SafetyNet City (pictured below)—an interconnected series of nets and living-pods strung between the top floors of skyscrapers. Mr Mihaly explains the core elements: “A zombie-proof house needs to be secure—not only structurally strong but also with limited openings on its perimeter that are all closable, lockable and impenetrable,” he says. He adds that it needs to be simple and sustainable, capable of generating its own energy, food and water, and of managing its waste. And it needs to be "sacrificial—able to destroy itself and as many of the attacking zombies as possible while its inhabitants escape.”

Matt Jordan and Christina Geros, two American architects, won third prize with Look Out House (pictured above), a stylish and heavily weaponised million-dollar sanctuary on the cliffs of the Tennessee River. As with all real estate, location is key. To survive an invasion of the undead, they recommend retreating to the countryside. “Densely populated areas will probably be the most overrun with zombies in an outbreak scenario, so a rural location is preferred,” Mr Jordan explains. It also helps to be near natural resources such as fresh water, wildlife and wood for fuel. A remote spot in challenging terrain makes it less likely that zombies will stagger their way to you.