MADE IN
SUNDERLAND
A FUTURE LIVING
DESIGN CHALLENGE

THE CHALLENGE


Sunderland City Council together with MOBIE and the Riverside Sunderland team are inviting the Young People of Sunderland to collaborate with their households, families, relations and friends to design homes that could be built on the city's riverside.

We are all having to live much more of our lives at home than usual. We are sharing spaces of different sizes, layouts and styles and different facilities with our family groups, large or small, differing ages, genders and generations. So what better time for you to think about the design of the future homes and new community in Sunderland.

You should start by learning about the chosen site where your home(s) will be built and the surrounding new community created. You can look at the site on a map or from old photographs and, if possible, research about it on the internet. You can visit the site and take photographs, make sketches and rough plans and take measurements of key distances. We have lots of useful links where you can look at site plans, historic material, site photos and more. Be sure to look at the how to enter section

If you visit the site you could carry out a site survey. Check out the ‘lie of the land’ and the setting of the site and surrounding landscape. Ask yourself some key questions, like how big the site is, is it flat, are there any changes in levels? Is it easy to reach the site? Is it a quiet site or noisy? Where does the sun rise and set? Note any possible obstructions to the development such as trees, overhead cables, historic buildings. What plants and creatures currently call this site home? How much wildlife is already here, might there be any protected species? Is there an opportunity to create more green space and wildlife habitat in redeveloping the site?

Find out what kinds of services, facilities and activities are on or close to the site. Are there things to do? Is there a sense of place?

Sunderland has a rich, proud, industrial and manufacturing heritage. We want you to research the heritage and history of the site. What has happened here, how has it changed over time? Who worked here, what has been made and built here, what techniques and processes were used? What kind of homes were Sunderland people living in in the past? You could talk to your family and your friends, older relations to find out if they can recall and remember anything about its past. We want your home design to reflect the proud industrial and manufacturing history of Sunderland.

DESIGN
CHALLENGE
HOME DESIGN BRIEF

Your challenge is to design a home that will fit on a 6 by 9 metre plot. It should be designed to be part of a terrace.
It should include outdoor space/gardens for relaxing outside. You must decide who you are designing your home for. What will they need and how will they live? Will their needs change over time? Show us how your home will meet their needs.

Your plans must explain the layout of the house, for instance, how many bedrooms, rooms, over how many floors, what other rooms and what kind of outdoor space it will have. Will outdoor space be private or shared?

Meeting Future Needs

Your designs must consider the planet. It must be a ‘green’ home to build and run. Its construction must use sustainable materials, which could include recycled materials and minimise waste. It must offer low running costs, energy use and have zero carbon emissions. Think about how the design of your house can reduce the need for materials and energy, and then how you can create the energy that is needed from renewable resources.

Show us how your home will consider the health and wellbeing of the people who live in it as well as those in the surrounding community. Consider what new and digital technologies the occupants might need and enjoy.Your new home should be beautiful to look at, as well as beautiful to live in. Finally, how well will your design last into the future – i.e. will it be flexible for future adaptations to future lifestyles?

Modern Methods of Construction and Offsite Manufacture

Your homes must be suitable for Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and Offsite Manufacture (OSM). These are different ways of making homes, they are created from parts made in a factory, units or as a whole in a factory. These are brought to the site and fitted together on site. They are designed to make new housing more efficient, improve quality and make the building faster, reduce costs and provide safer, cleaner and more comfortable conditions for the construction of the house.

You might want to do some research into MMC and Offsite Construction methods and reflect this knowledge in your ideas. We will be happy to help and guide you through this part, please see the contact details at the end of this brief.

HOW
TO ENTER

• • 2x A1 boards showing your designs
• • Your site history and heritage report
• • You will probably want to make a model, you only need to submit photos of your model (but keep your model safe as we may want to display it later in the exhibition)

Please fill out and submit this form to register for the Sunderland Design Challenge.

Help is at hand! You can contact MOBIE to arrange a video tutorial to talk through your ideas, ask questions, and to get feedback on your ideas. To do this, please fill out and submit the form below and we will be in contact soon.