Cityscape: Volume 19 Number 3 | 2017 Innovation in Affordable Housing Student Design and Planning Competition: Woodhill Homes, Cleveland, Ohio

2017 Innovation in Affordable Housing Student Design and Planning Competition: Woodhill Homes, Cleveland, Ohio

Regina Gray, compiler
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Winning Team: Rutgers University
Jane Allen, Chelsea Moore-Ritchie, Sharone Small, Kim Tryba, Christine Winter

Runner-Up Team: University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
Bader Bajaber, Melissa Bloem, Emily Burrowes, Laura Devine, Prashanth Chamarti Rajendra Raju

The Jury
Beverly Bates, Michael Bodaken, Uwe Brandes, Linda Mandolini, Joe Reilly

Observations From the Field
Jeffery Patterson, Executive Director and CEO, Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority

Affordable Design

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development sponsors or cosponsors three annual competitions for innovation in affordable design. This Cityscape department reports on the competitions and their winners. Each competition seeks to identify and develop new, forward-looking planning and design solutions for expanding or preserving affordable housing. Professional jurors determine the outcome of these competitions.

The Innovation in Affordable Housing (IAH) Student Design and Planning Competition, now entering its fifth year running, invites teams of graduate students from various disciplines to submit plans in response to a housing design and construction issue identified by a selected housing authority. The goals of the competition are to encourage research and innovation in affordable housing design that strengthens the social and physical fabric of low- and moderate-income communities and to foster crosscutting teamwork within the design and community development process. This article reflects on lessons learned from this year’s event and identifies opportunities for furthering engagement with public housing authorities (PHAs) on these issues. The article features feedback from the jury, discussions with the second- and first-place winning student teams, and observations from Jeffery Patterson, Executive Director and CEO of the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CHMA), on the importance of creating better communities through a sustained commitment to creative design.