Tri-National BDA Architectural Ideas Competition: Innovative Dwelling Concepts for the Urbanized Regions of the Future

In 2020 Aachen's neighboring region on the Dutch side of the border will host an International Building Exhibition, the so called "IBA Parkstad" (http://www.iba-parkstad.nl). Next to the urbanized region of Parkstad Limburg - a partnership of 8 municipalities in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine of the Dutch province of Limburg - also the neighboring "Städteregion Aachen" will be included. Central theme of the IBA concept is the sustainable social and structural change of this former mining region.

The promotors like to use this opportunity to organize an ideas competition that aims at the development of concepts for innovative ways of dwelling in the urbanized regions and cities of the future. And as such to open a discussion about future lifestyles, it's corresponding forms of dwelling and the social and technological innovations that might stimulate such developments. A discussion that should also initiate a process leading towards a more innovative housing policy and housing development and as such open up more possibilities for experimentation and alternative lifestyles.

As a contribution to the IBA Parkstad 2020 exhibition at least 1 prototype should be realized as an exhibit on scale 1:1, which will then be evaluated and optimized as a "living lab". As such this prototype should become part of the long standing tradition of "Experimental Housing Units", like for instance Le Corbusier's "Pavillon de l'Esprit Nouveau" of 1925 or Alison and Peter Smithson's "House of he Future" of 1956.

Answers to questions such as these are expected:

- How would future lifestyles and their spatial correlations express themselves in the planning and spatial organization of the design?
- What new forms of housing will meet the needs of a changing society in the future?
- What concepts do you suggest for individual housing in relation to different social units (from single, via couple and basic family to different sorts of communes)?
- What concepts do you suggest for collective housing in new and not necessarily familial associations or intentional communities, like residential communities with new lifestyles etc?
- What concepts do you suggest for clustering these into neighborhoods and districts forming modules on the level of town planning and urban structure?
- Has the concept the capability for densification into clusters for a compact urban fabric, can it be used for densification in existing urban contexts?
- Does the concept reduce the territorial footprint by densification without loosing its dwelling quality and scale?
- How does the concept deal with the 5 qualitative aspects of sustainability , that is:
-- ecological quality (nature conservation, saving resources, resourc and energy efficency etc.)
-- economical quality (minimizing costs, optimizing benefit and user value)
-- sociocultural and functional quality
-- process quality planning an building process lifecycle criteria
-- technological quality?

www.projectivehabitat.com

SCHEDULE:

registration deadline: 20.05
kick-off- meeting: 17.05

delivery deadline phase 1: 20.06

selection for congress (30 ideas): 30.06/01.07

congress: 14/15.07

selection for phase 2 (15 ideas): 16.07

preparation phase 2: week 29-33
start working on phase 2: week 33
colloquium questions: 26.08

delivery deadline phase 2: 24.10

pre-check: week 43-45

jury: 17./18.11

If financing is secured:

Commissioning winner                      2016/2017
Planning realization                           2017
Realization period                             2018-2020