Nka Foundation invites entries for Mud House Design 2014, an international architecture competition open to recent graduates and students of architecture, design and others from around the world who think earth architecture can be beautiful.
The Competition encourages designers, architects and builders to use their creativity to come up with innovative designs for modest, affordable homes that can be built locally.
The challenge is to design a single-family unit of about 30 x 40 feet on a plot of 60 x 60 feet to be built by maximum use of earth and local labor in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.
In Ghana, as in other countries in West Africa, stereotypes about buildings made of earth persist because of poor construction. From the cities to the low-income villages, use of concrete – despite its dependence on imported resources – is considered indispensable for building. Yet an excellent, cheap and local alternative called laterite, red earth, is available everywhere in Ghana. The long-term goal is to enable the Ghanaian population and lots of other places, to overcome the stigma that mud architecture is architecture for the very poor.
The method to be used to construct your design concept can be cob construction, rammed earth, mud brick, cast earth (poured earth) by formwork, or any other earth construction techniques that can be easily learned by local labor. Roofing design could be of vault, fired mud roof, or corrugated zinc sheets, which is the conventional roofing materials because zinc roofing stands the heavy rainfall better. Your design entry may therefore aim to accomplish a prototype, a durable mud house that promotes open source design for the continuity of building with earth under the feet for a more sustainable future.
Registration and submission of entries runs from 15 March 2014 until 31 August 2014.
Jurors will award prizes for first, second and third place consisting of a commemorative plague and cash prizes to the winning designs as follows:
- 1st prize- $1,500 or Construction of design in Ghana plus a short trip to Ghana for the opening ceremony once construction is completed (in case the winner is not located in Ghana and to a maximum of 1 person);
- 2nd prize- Construction or $1,000 and
- 3rd prize- Construction or $500.
Honorable mentions may be awarded at the discretion of the jury but will receive no cash prize.
For additional information, please visit the official website.
Mud House Design 2014 Registration Fees
The registration fee per entry is $60 for individual and $80 for a team.
