“Ideal Home” Housing Forum & Design Competition
Competition Strives to Change the Face of Affordable Housing
Through an "Ideal Home" design-build competition, Cook Inlet Housing Authority (CIHA) has challenged architects and home builders throughout the Municipality of Anchorage and the MatSu Valley to develop creative solutions for affordable housing.
In early December, CIHA issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to more than 700 architects and home builders. The proposals will be evaluated in early January based on affordable housing philosophy, preliminary design ideas, the ability to communicate those ideas and previous design experience.
From the initial proposals, CIHA will select up to 4 teams to actually design homes for review by an expert panel of jurors and presentation at CIHA's 2006 Housing Forum on March 3.
"The competition results and the final built project are intended to serve as a basis for communicating the benefits of developing thoughtfully designed affordable housing," said CIHA Presidents/CEO Carol Gore. "We're hoping to come out of this with some truly innovative ideas that the entire community can benefit from."
The three primary criteria to be addressed in the designs are affordability, adaptability and creativity.
Affordability has been defined as cost savings achieved through basic building shape design, materials selection, construction methods, systems that enhance energy efficiency and the use of durable, low maintenance products. The homes need to be both affordable to build and affordable for the owner to maintain.
Creativity refers to the attractiveness of the exterior and interior design, convenience of the arrangement of the rooms and spaces, creative use of interior space and that of the site, compatibility with the existing neighborhood character, sensitivity to environmental issues and the use of exterior spaces with respect to landscaping and privacy.
Adaptability refers to the ability of the homeowner to modify interior and exterior spaces to accommodate changing family needs and to the ability of the developer to adapt the design for various neighborhoods.
Each of the participating design teams will present their ideas during the housing forum, sharing with the audience the design details and products they've incorporated into their projects.
The projects will be judged by the team of experts as well as the audience, and awards will honor design teams whose projects are identified as being "the best" in each of the three primary design criteria. The first place award and a $15,000 contract will go to the team determined to have developed the best overall product. The winning home will be constructed in Mountain View in the summer of 2006.
CIHA’s "Ideal Home" Housing Forum and Design Competition is being presented in conjunction with the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation Training Institute which is being held at the Sheraton Anchorage, February 27-March 3. The forum is being made possible by the Wells Fargo Housing Foundation through a Focus Community Initiative challenge grant and more than 100 local businesses, organizations and individuals who helped CIHA meet the $100,000 challenge.
For more information about the event please contact Amy Jennings Burnett at 907-793-3001.