Vancouver-based BLA DESIGN GROUP has won first place for a sustainable microhome design called Shifting Nests in the 2019 International MICROHOME architecture competition.
Presented by architectural competition organizer Bee Breeders, the inaugural MICROHOME architectural design competition is the first chapter of Bee Breeders’ Small Scale Architecture Appreciation Movement, which highlights small projects that offer big ideas from around the world.
BLA Design Group’s project is intended to provide an alternative, entry-level option for the city’s increasingly unaffordable housing market.
The jurors were “impressed by the sensible linear plan layout,” and that “the project is depicted beautifully in plan and section, giving sense to the project’s layout and form.”
“The key requirement of the competition was to create a livable entry-level home that didn’t exceed 25 square metres. In the context of the affordability challenges of Vancouver’s housing market, this felt like more of a mission than an academic exercise,” said Jerry Liu, co-founder of BLA Design Group. “We’re incredibly humbled to have had our vision recognized by such a well-respected group of prominent architects and university professors, particularly given the strength the submissions by the short-listed competitors.”
“Bee Breeders serves a global community of 50,000 architects and designers, and this MicroHome competition was intended to highlight for our industry that bigger isn’t always better. Our vision is that small-scale architecture can offer the opportunity of home ownership to many more people – and do that in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way,” said Jesse Basran, co-founder of BLA Design Group.