Nka Foundation ARchiTecture Challenge

This post was submitted by Japanese architect Kikuma Watanabe, who’s engaged in one of the Main Jury’s at the Ecovillage project in Ghana. The text below is from the Nka Foundation website.

“Nka Foundation is pleased to announce the results for the Ghana: 2011 Open ARchiTecture Challenge. Entries were received from over 30 countries. The challenge was to design and build units of a model arts village in the Ashanti Region of Ghana for replication in other parts of the sub-Sahara. The design entry was to include a Multipurpose Arts Center, Residential Courtyard that sleeps 21 persons, Community Kitchen, Courtyard for arts studios and a Recreational Sports Ground on a 10-acre lot with earth under the feet and within a budget of $42,000-$62,000. We are inclined to building for the arts with earth because in West Africa, from the cities to the low-income villages, earth architecture is fast giving way to modern dwellings made of cement-blocks and corrugated zinc-roof that are expensive and thermally and acoustically problematic.

Thus, we were interested in design solutions that integrate art into architecture for a more sustainable future. We emphasized that the design should provide a comfortable, and multi-use of space and should be easily built from local materials and local labor at low cost for use by the international arts community. The international competition is of the Open Source Share, which implies that we aim at making the design process and design documents open to all who may use, improve and adapt them to generate a more practical and contemporary design trend for the region.”

Nka Foundation
Note: If you love architecture like I do, then do not click on this link if you have work to do. You’ll be lost for hours looking at amazing designs.

2 thoughts on “Nka Foundation ARchiTecture Challenge”

  1. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    MUD HOUSE DESIGN 2014 COMPETITION
    (Reinventing the African Mud Hut Together)

    Nka Foundation Announces Jury Members for MUD HOUSE DESIGN 2014 competition for Ghana. The jury consists of pre-selection jurors and grand jurors. The Pre-Selection Jury will review all design entries and select the overall Top 20 Designs and presented them to the Grand Jury, who will then select the winning designs. The Jury session runs from September 15 – September 30, 2014. Those interested in participating in the competition can still register on https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mud-house-design-competition-tickets-10697036123 till August 15, 2014.
    The grand jurors include Belinda van BUITEN, Director at FBW architects/African Architecture Matters at Utrecht (The Netherlands); Márcio Albuquerque BUSON, Professor of architecture and urbanism at the University of Brasilia (Brasil); Mariana CORREIA, Professor of Architecture at Escola Superior Gallaecia (Portugal); Toby CUMBERBATCH, Professor at The Cooper Union (New York); Ahmad HAMID, Principal founder, Ahmad Hamid Architects (Egypt); Toby CUMBERBATCH, Professor at The Cooper Union (New York); Rowland KEABLE, UNESCO Chair on Earthen Architecture and Director Rammed Earth Consulting CIC (UK); Bruno MARQUES, professor of the Faculty of Architecture and Arts, Oporto Lusíada University; John QUALE, Director and Professor of Architecture, at the the University of New Mexico School of Architecture + Planning at Albuquerque (USA); Ronald RAEL, Professor of Architecture in the University of California at Berkeley in California (USA); and Humberto VARUM, Professor of Civil Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (Portugal).
    And the pre-selection jurors are Sara Alidadi, architect at Tehran (Iran); Juliet SAKYI-ANSAH, Probationer Architect with Ghana Institute of Architects at Accra (Ghana); Guido CIMADOMO, Professor of Architecture at the University of Malaga at Sevilla (Spain); Alina FERNANDES, architect at Lisbon (Portugal); Sarah LAISNEY, Programme Officer at UN-Habitat in Nairobi (Kenya); Luke MAHONY, director of Earth Dwellings Australia at Sydney (Australia); Rouben MOHIUDDIN, Professor of Interior Architecture California State University at Chico (USA); James PALMER, Environmental Designer at Perth (Australia); George KATODRYTIS, Professor of Architecture at the American University of Sharjah (United Arab Emirates); Robert van KATS, Architect with The Dutch Alliance for Sustainable Urban Development in Africa (DASUDA) in Amsterdam (The Netherlands); Roy KESROUANI, designer and architect at Los angeles in California (USA); Mara Sánchez LLORENS, Professor of Architecture in European University and Pontifician University of Salamanca at Madrid (Spain); Christof MAY, software architect at Karlsruhe (Germany); Niall O’CLEIRIGH, architectural designer from Dublin (Ireland); Diogo ROCHA, architect at Porto, (Portugal); Tai SCHOMAKER, an architect in Berlin (Germany); Veronika SCHRÖPFER, Project Officer at Architects’ Council of Europe in Brussels (Belgium); Pritpal SINGH, Architect Transport & Infrastructure (Qatar); Wayne SWITZER, architect in Switzerland; and Xavier VILALTA, architect and designer at Barcelona (Spain).

    IMPORTANT DATES
    Registration Deadline August 15, 2014
    Submissions April 30-August 31, 2014
    Press release on the winning projects, October 5, 2014
    Design-build workshops to realize two of the winning designs, November 2014-July 2015
    A traveling exhibition of all of the works received (schedule to be announced).

    PRESS RELEASE

    MUD HOUSE DESIGN 2014 COMPETITION
    (Reinventing the African Mud Hut Together)

    Nka Foundation invites entries for Mud House Design 2014, an international architecture competition open to recent graduates and students of architecture, design and others from around the world who think earth architecture can be beautiful. The challenge is to design a single-family unit of about 30 x 40 feet (approximately 10 x 12 metres) to be built by maximum use of earth and local labor in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.

    This is the design problem: In Ghana, as in other countries in West Africa, stereotypes about buildings made of earth persist because of poor construction. From the cities to the low-income villages, use of concrete – despite its dependence on imported resources – is considered indispensable for building. Yet an excellent, cheap and local alternative called laterite, red earth, is available everywhere in Ghana. The long-term goal is to enable the Ghanaian population and lots of other places, to overcome the stigma that mud architecture is architecture for the very poor.
    Jurors will award prizes for first, second and third place consisting of a commemorative plague and cash prizes to the winning designs as follows: 1st prize- $1,500 or Construction of design in Ghana plus a short trip to Ghana for the opening ceremony once construction is completed (in case the winner is not located in Ghana and to a maximum of 1 person); 2nd prize- Construction or $1,000 and 3rd prize- Construction or $500. Honorable mentions may be awarded at the discretion of the jury but will receive no cash prize.

    Registration and submission of entries runs from March 15, 2014 until August 31, 2014. To register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mud-house-design-competition-tickets-10697036123 and submit your design entry via mudhousedesign@mail.com For additional information see the press release: http://www.prlog.org/12288229 and the Competition website: http://www.nkafoundation.org/competitions.html.

    Join us! Make your name known. Show the world how to reinvent the African mud hut!

    Reply
  2. Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is a really well written article. I’ll be sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your useful info. Thanks for the post.

    Reply

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