Urbanarium announces winners of Decoding Density

A total of $44,000 in prize money was distributed to winners from Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, and the U.S.

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Urbanarium recently announced the winners of Decoding Density, an affordable housing ideas competition that highlighted and challenged current building codes in order to explore new apartment designs.

A total of eighty-five proposals were submitted from nine different countries. Participating teams spanned from students to housing advocates, design and architectural professionals to urban planning enthusiasts aging from individuals in their 20s to their 70s.

“We were blown away by the innovation and thoughtfulness of the submissions,” says competition co-chair Sara Stevens. “It’s clear that there are some exciting and compelling directions that architects, designers, and city planners can explore in the future. Collective solutions to shared space, adaptability to extreme heat events, and porosity as communities become more spatially connected — the only limits are our creativity and current building codes.”

Jury member Cedric Yu, architect AIBC, said, “The fact that we have landed on a pair of co-winners identifies how challenging it truly is to resolve all of the problems in front of us — namely, affordability and climate change. These challenges will require innovation in many areas.”

Decoding Density winners were chosen over a day of deliberations by two groups; the main competition jury of architects, developers, educators, and sustainable housing experts, and the Planners Prize jury of urban planners.

The winners include the following.

● 1st Place (tied) + Planners Prize Winner: $20,000 prize
Towerhouse by Studio Oh Song | New York, United States
Team members: Ericka Song, Justin Oh

● 1st Place (tied): $10,000 prize
Shared Density by Switch | Vancouver, Canada
Team members: Jonas Thalamas, Charlie Petit, Kareem Negm, Chris Quigley

● 3rd Place: $4,000 prize
Cul-de-sac Nouveau by PAC Lab | Auckland, New Zealand
Team members: Nadthachai Kongkhajornkidsuk, Xian Chris Li, Elitsa Vutova, Liam
Lautze

Honourable Mentions: $2,000 prize each:

● From NIMBY to NIMBY by Bobo | Vancouver, Canada
Team members: Daichi Yamashita

● Sharing is the Core Thing! by Catlab | Seoul, South Korea
Team members: Sang Hoon Youm, Sumin Hong, Seungho Jeong, Mina Kim, Dongmin Lee

● Co-Finity Village by Co-Finity | Burnaby, Canada
Team members: Alvin Wang, Melanie Vanco, Cyrus Wu

● Micro-hood by Micro-hood | Vancouver, Canada
Team members: Minsu Kim, Ronak Shah, Austin Mills, Kathleen Fu, Chris Hill, Antoine Morris, Emily Rennalls, Kevin Wu

● Lots! of Bundles by Rebuild Collective | Cincinnati, United States
Team members: Peter Yi, Peter Loayza, Amanda Skyler, Leah Roodhouse

A publication about the finalists and a solutions video by About Here will be launched on June 3, 2024, at The Polygon Gallery.

The competition jury included Cedric Yu, Architect AIBC, Frances Bula, Urban Issues/Housing Journalist, Inge Roecker, Architect AIBC and Associate Professor, SALA, UBC, Ly Tang, Senior Development Manager, Rize Alliance Properties, Marta Maj, Principal, Timber Engineering Inc., Richard Henriquez, Architect AIBC, Sara Muir, Planning Institute of British Columbia, Climate Action Committee, Shirley Shen, Architect AIBC, Travis Hanks, Architect AIBC

The Planners Prize jury included Dr. Gary Hack, Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners, Kevin Spaans, Assistant Director of Development Planning, City of Vancouver, Sam Maleknia, Senior Urban Design Planner, City of Surrey, Suzanne Carter-Huffman, Program Manager, Urban Design, City of Richmond.

Technical Advisors included two cost consultants from BTY Global: Directors Neil Murray and Ping Pang, as well as Wilma Leung, Mobilizing Building Adaptation and Resilience at BC Housing.

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