2^nd International Architecture Competition for Sustainable Design announces finalists

São Paulo, Brazil, 13 June 2007- Living Steel releases today a list of the 18 short-listed firms who have been selected to submit final designs for housing in Brazil, China and the United Kingdom for the 2nd International Architecture Competition for Sustainable Housing. Six firms have been short-listed for each of three locations (for a total of 18 candidates) as follows:

View a slide-show of the short-listed designs here. Images are available for download below.

These short-listed firms are charged with the development of innovative approaches to sustainable building design that use steel solutions to address the economic, environmental and social aspirations of a growing world population. One winner will be selected for each location, and the winning design will be developed for construction. The 2^nd International Architecture Competition for Sustainable Housing is a International Union of Architects (UIA)-approved competition.

"There is an undisputed shortage of housing that is fit for purpose for a population that is growing at the rate of a small city each day," said Scott Chubbs, Living Steel programme director. "The Living Steel International Architecture Competition for Sustainable Housing presents a challenge to the world's architects to design effective and efficient housing for Brazil, China and the UK, using what we believe is the most effective material for meeting this critical need."

The implementation of best practices and innovation in design and construction with steel are sought to demonstrate the value steel offers in meeting society's housing needs. Competitors are encouraged to work with local partners in developing their solutions.

The Call for Expressions of Interest for the 2^nd International Architecture Competition generated tremendous interest among the world's leading architects. Over 1100 entrants from 88 countries entered the competition launched last October on World Architecture Day.

From these, 18 firms were selected for the short-list to submit detailed designs. The entries were short listed based on criteria that included creativity and innovation, evidence of built designs, sustainability, suitability for the relevant climate/market, and suitability of building type. Also considered was the willingness to work with local partners and developers in the respective countries and evidence of steel construction experience.

The competition's iury met in São Paulo, Brazil where the short-list designs were evaluated. One winner for each location will be announced globally on the Living Steel website on 17 September 2007. The internationally acclaimed jury, approved by the UIA, includes Glenn Murcutt, Charles Correa, James Berry, Andrew Ogorzalek, Cui Kai, Roberto Loeb and Jaime Lerner with Nicholas de Monchaux serving as an alternate juror.

With a total prize fund of €300,000, the competition is one of the largest architectural design initiatives in the world. The winning submission for each location will receive a €50,000 prize and a contract to complete their designs for construction of a demonstration building in the target location. The remaining fifteen short -listed finalists will each receive a €10,000 honorarium.

The 1st International Competition of Sustainable Housing, launched in 2005, invited architects to design sustainable environment-friendly housing in Kolkata, India, and Warsaw, Poland. The winning architect for Kolkata, Piercy Conner Architects and Designers (United Kingdom), and for Warsaw, architenbureau cepezed (Netherlands), were chosen from the 259 Expressions of Interest received from architects in 38 countries. Construction in India and Poland is currently under planning and preparation.

Further competition details, news on demonstration buildings as construction commences, as well as case studies and other information on steel building practices are available at www.livingsteel.org/.

Living Steel, a worldwide programme to stimulate innovation in the design and construction of housing, was launched in February, 2005. The International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI) provide project management of the five-year Living Steel programme. The programme comprises three key initiatives including market research, knowledge management and the competition and demonstration building to promote steel-based solutions for sustainable housing.

Members of Living Steel include Arcelor Mittal, Baosteel, BlueScope Steel, CELSA Group, Corus, Erdemir, IMIDRO, Posco, Ruukki, and Tata Steel.

The Living Steel International Competition for Sustainable Housing was launched to develop innovative approaches to meet sustainable housing needs. Underlying the competition was a desire to address the economic, environmental and social aspirations of a growing world population. The Competition was developed with the guidance of the International Union of Architects (UIA) and consequently follows the provisions of the International Recommendations for Competitions in Architecture and Urban Planning adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO on 27 November 1978.

The UIA is a democratically structured body that represents over a million architects throughout the world through national architectural associations that form the UIA Member Sections.

The UIA is an international non governmental organisation founded in Lausanne in 1948 to unite architects from all nations throughout the world, regardless of nationality, race, religion or architectural school of thought, within the federations of their national associations.

The International Union of Architects was conferred the authority of ensuring the observance of conditions for the launching and carrying out an international architecture and town planning competition, according to the UNESCO-UIA international competitions and town planning regulation, adopted by the UNESCO General Conference.

For more information, please contact:

Sheetal Chabra
Project Manager, Communications, Living Steel
T : + 91 98 102 11586
E : This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

One image of each short-list firm entry is available below ('Save Target As...' advised). If you would like more information or images on the short-listed entries, please contact Sheetal Chabra (see contact information above).

Brazil

• Andrade Morettin Arquitetos Associados Ltda, Brazil [TIF 18.2 MB]
• Brasil Arquitetura, Brazil [JPG 10.3 MB]
• Collins And Turner Architects, Australia [TIF 8.3 MB]
• Dubosc And Landowski, France [TIF 17.5 MB]
• Perkins + Will, USA [TIF 11.7 MB]
• Sebastian Irarrazaval Architects, Chile [TIF 6.2 MB]

China

• Anderson Anderson, USA [TIF 5.9 MB]
• Atenastudio+cityfoerster, Italy And The Netherlands [TIF 14.3 MB]
• China Southwest Architectural Design And Research Institute (CSWADI), China [TIF 7.2 MB]
• David Knafo Tagit Klimor, Architects And Town Planners, Israel [TIF 10.1 MB]
• nArchitects, USA [TIF 9.6 MB]
• IAUS School Of Architecture, Tsinghua University, China [TIF 10.4 MB]

UK

• Cartwright Pickard Architects, UK [TIF 10.3 MB]
• Feilden Clegg Bradley Architects LLP, UK [TIF 9.3 MB]
• Hideto Horike And Urtopia, Inc., Japan [TIF 10.6 MB]
• Icesa S.A., Costa Rica [TIF 7.8 MB]
• Mei Architecten En Stedenbouwers BV, The Netherlands [TIF 8.6 MB]
• Roccatelier Associati, Italy [TIF 6.8 MB]

Competition Judges

• Judges Group 1 [JPG 5.0 MB]
• Judges Group 2 [JPG 4.5 MB]
• Judges Group 3 [JPG 4.1 MB]
• Judges Group 4 [JPG 4.6 MB]
• Judges Group 5 [JPG 5.2 MB]
• Cui Kai [JPG 7.6 MB]
• Nicholas de Monchaux [JPG 7 MB]
• Glenn Murcutt [JPG 7 MB]
• Andrew Ogorzalek [JPG 7.7 MB]
• Jaime Lerner [JPG 7.5 MB]
• Roberto Loeb [JPG 3.5 MB]
• James Berry [JPG 4.2 MB]
• Jamie Lerner [JPG]
• Cui Kai [JPG]
• Roberto Loeb [JPG]
• Nicholas de Monchaux [JPG]
• Andrew Ogorzalek [JPG]
• Glenn Murcutt [JPG]