Competitions and Awards

I put together a team and entered the 2010 USGBC Natural Talent Design Competition.  We were excited about this project brief.

“The Salvation Army joins the U.S. Green Building Council this year in hosting USGBC’s 2010 Natural Talent Design Competition.  Entrants will design an affordable, 800 square foot green home for an elderly client in the Broadmoor, New Orleans neighborhood.  Winners will be announced after the top four entries have been constructed, inhabited, and evaluated.”

It seemed to be a focused, serious architecture competition that was interested in both affordability and sustainability.

We ended up being selected as one of the winners and our design was praised for how practical and affordable the design was in comparison to the other entrants.  We were really hard on ourselves during the design process and really took the affordable part seriously.  We didn’t produce the design we liked aesthetically but rather one we thought would best serve the people who would live there. We kept things simple to keep costs low and tried to innovate by how we detailed the front yard to make these raised buildings more engaging at street level.  We put a lot of time into this project, and then the organization that was behind it ran into funding troubles and only built a fraction of what we designed.  I learned to be more skeptical of nonprofits and that good intentions can be wasteful when not accompanied by sound planning and strategy.  I vowed to revisit affordable housing again, when I was in a position to have more control over the outcome.  

- THE NORTH WOOD FACTORY -

1.9.23

TAKE

A SEAT