PREFABRICATION CHALLENGE

Modular housing challenge that aims to tackle homelessness

This competition asks architectural students from UWE to form teams and to design a prefabricated housing scheme. Using Totally Modular’s system and using sites allocated for housing in Bristol, we challenged the students to address issues of homelessness in the city.


 
“HiO”

The Challenge

The competition asks architectural students from UWE to form teams, to design a prefabricated housing scheme. Using Totally Modular’s system, solutions using sites allocated for housing in Bristol will aim to address particular conditions of homelessness in the city.

The weeklong competition runs from Monday 8th February and finishes Friday midday 12th February. The competition is sponsored by Totally Modular (a volumetric housing manufacturer), who is providing £500 of prize money for the winning team and a chance to visit the Totally Modular factory in the West Midlands.

 




The Crisis

The number of homeless people in Bristol is on the rise — by a shocking 128% over the past three years, according to statistics from Homeless Link. In order to drive forward change to help tackle this homelessness crisis head on, collaboration is key. This competition is hoping to highlight that modular methods of construction can help and alleviate both the housing and homeless crisis in the UK. The competition is a great opportunity to engage students in the issues of homelessness and land use and the surrounding issues but by focusing on solution finding and innovation.

The motivation behind this revolutionary competition are to bring new entrants into the MMC arena & provide students with real life design case studies, whilst also increasing and highlighting the discussion around homelessness and its possible solutions.

Totally Modular’s concept of House iO utilises a common frame approach, maximising efficient design of the modules both internally and externally to create a cost effective design solution.




 

The Brief

The House iO competition challenges the student’s to develop a proposal for housing that;

  1. Responds to contemporary issues of homelessness by addressing the housing needs of new and emerging residents in the city;

  2. Uses an innovative ‘common frame’ volumetric approach that co-ordinates the manufacture of services Inside and structure and envelope Outside to create an efficient design solution.

  3. Provides housing on a real site in the city that has been identified as suitable for affordable housing &/or that can be built on for ‘meanwhile use’ – that is, demountable housing allowing future site redevelopment;

  4. Creates a safe, healthy and beautiful place for people to live in.

Find Out More

For further information and images, please contact: Sophie Chater, Sales & Marketing Executive, 01384 880 630 sophie.chater@totallymodular.co.uk