Open Idea National Competition 2024

Q: Schedule

Last Date of Registrations : 11th August 2024 Submission : 31st August 2024 Results : 15th September 2024

Q: Awards

1st Prize : ₹ 1,00,000 2nd Prize : ₹ 50,000 Special Mentions for Two Outstanding Designs

The Open Ideas National Competition 2024 – Season IV on Improving Livability of Small Houses organised by Habitat Forum [INHAF] in partnership with Sustainability Initiatives[SI] seeks to engage practising architects, interior designers, planners, engineers and senior students of these faculties; related Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs); Government agencies; Professionals working on slum-upgrading and slum rehabilitation, and others with innovative ideas in developing proposals on Improving the Livability of Small Low-cost Housing. The competition aims to share innovative ideas and solutions with field agencies, both public and private, implementing projects such as PMAY [Pradhan Mantri Aavas Yojna] and other affordable housing schemes with a view to improve the design of the houses being built in our cities.

The Competition also intends covering current and past In-situ Slum Improvements Projects and Slum Rehabilitation Projects to seek ideas on improving project design, planning, financing, and implementation of such projects.

The competition seeks innovative ideas in the challenging domain of designing small houses. It also aims to draw attention and raise awareness that:

1. The inadequate size dictated by affordability constraints could be stretched through innovations in planning, designing, and construction
2. People-centric project planning should include psychological, social, cultural and life-style factors as also the participative/ consultative practice
3. Sustainable aspects of water and energy conservation and waste management should be an integral part of the project design
4. Buildings should add constructively to the larger urban landscape, and
5. Emphasis should also be on the ‘community’ aspects of living

This competition seeks to address the challenges faced in the supply of liveable yet affordable houses in India. Innovations are sought to deliver:

Better Designed Small Houses
Better Functioning Buildings with Sustainable Services And Green Building Parameters
Better Relating Neighbourhoods
Better Managed Community Spaces To Facilitate Community Living
Better Functioning Urbanscape

The competition also seeks ideas on making the building bye-laws more realistic and sensitive to the needs of small apartments and low-cost housing. It also asks competition participants to identify and present innovative ideas and solutions created and adopted by residents in their homes to improve liveability. The main emphasis of the competition is on practical, doable, and implementable ideas.

Jury Panel

Download the design brief

More information about the competition components and the deliverables are available in the detailed brochure. Click here to Download.

Schedule

Last Date of Registrations : 11th August 2024
Submission : 31st August 2024Results : 15th September 2024

Submission

Your entries can be submitted in PDF format with a maximum size of 12MB. The deadline to submit is 31st August 2024. For more details, please refer the Competition Brochure.

Awards

1st Prize : ₹ 1,00,000
2nd Prize : ₹ 50,000

Special Mentions for Two Outstanding Designs

Download Sheet Templates

Please use the following sheet templates for the submission. Click here to dowalod the Sheet Templates.

Registration Closed

REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED

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The competition is open to Architects, Engineers, Planners, Interior and Furniture Designers, Students of above Faculties, Non-Governmental Organisations in the settlement development sector, Government Agencies, Professionals working on slum upgrading and slum rehabilitation, Designers and shelter providers from the Informal sector, both local and international. Participants can participate in the competition either as individuals or as a team or firm/agency.

Please click here for FAQs. For further queries/clarifications/suggestions etc. please contact the organisers at competition@inhaf.org
Contact Person : Chitrakshi Shirke, +91 9455001026

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Anagha Paranjape-Purohit

is an architect – environmental planner with more than 12 years of professional experience in the field of Architecture, Sustainable Design and Urban-Environmental Planning and is a Director (Partner) at VK:e environmental, Pune. A Graduate of Pune University and Arizona State University, Anagha has multinational experience in countries like USA, India and Sweden. Anagha is also an academician and teaches post graduate programs in Architecture, Energy and Environment. She also conducts training on diverse themes such as Green Buildings, Environmental Impact Assessments, Urban Air Quality Management Solid Waste Management, Green Productivity and Sustainable Architecture. She is a member of various Boards and Committees at national and local level in the areas of Green Buildings, Urban Planning and Energy Efficient Buildings. Anagha is an empaneled expert with Bureau of Energy Efficiency, is a GRIHA Trainer and IGBC Evaluator. Additionally, she is involved in the Development Plan for the city of Pune and framing of environmentally sensitive Development Control Rules for the city. Through Sustainability Initiatives, Anagha is active in creating white papers on Indian cities, policies and frameworks that are used for influencing and making urban policy in India. She serves on various National and State level committees on Sustainability issues, Environmental Planning and Green Buildings. She writes a blog (anaghaspeaks.blogspot.com) which focuses on urban issues faced in Indian cities.

Ankur Anil Pandhe

is a dynamic leader in the affordable housing sector, with extensive experience in conceptualizing and successfully executing mass housing projects at the national level. He is adept at identifying market opportunities, land acquisition, project planning and design, government policy formulation in affordable housing, housing loans, construction technology, and project execution. He holds an MBA in Finance from the Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, and a degree in Civil Engineering from the Walchand Institute of Technology, Shivaji University.

Anup Naik

is an Architect and Urban Designer, as well as the Co-Founder and Director of Urban Frame, a knowledge-based design practice in Bengaluru. He is an active academician, serving as a Professor at the RV College of Architecture, and is a member of the advisory boards of multiple colleges offering architecture education.

With 25 years of professional experience, Anup has worked in countries including Morocco, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Kenya, Vietnam, and India. He has been actively involved in the Smart Cities Mission by the Government of India. His team has contributed to several award-winning projects ranging from master planning to high-rise buildings, earning recognition for their work in architecture, urban design, and sustainable development both in India and globally.

He has received numerous professional accolades, including the RTF Global Architecture and Design Award, BRIPL Architecture Award, CWAB Award, A+D Award, IIA Best Commercial Project, International Property Award, Arch Design Award, Asia Pacific Property Award, Cityscape Award Dubai, CoreNet Global Innovator Award Arizona (USA), and the Bruce Russel Sustainable Leadership Award for Sustainable Development, USA.

Dwaipayan Chakravarty

is an Architect and Urban Designer based in Pune, Maharashtra. After completing his M.Arch (Urban Design) from School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi in 2005, he had been working as a Senior Architect in some prominent firms of Pune, after a memorable stint with Council of Architecture’s academic unit – NIASA. Later, after 5 years as the Senior Masterplanner at Associated Space Designers Pvt. Ltd., masterplanning large acreage special townships like Nanded City, Life Republic and Oxford Oasis Golf City, he moved on to VK:a Architecture as an Associate, where he looks after a large number of interesting Architectural and Urban Design projects, including Townships. He has taught Urban Design at some prominent schools of architecture in Pune, and remains in touch with teaching and academics. Dwaipayan both specialises and is deeply interested in urbanism, urban design & planning, real estate dynamics, relationship between city & society, architectural education, architectural journalism and technology, and writes frequently on these subjects in various online & print magazines and blogs

Kabir Vajpeyi, social entrepreneur and co-founder of Vinyas, has created a framework to creatively treat space and its built elements and make school architecture more conducive to child development.He has initiated the concept of Whole School Development Planning, which is now in the framework for implementation for Elementary Education and is expected to influence more than thirteen lakh primary and elementary schools across the country in next few years. By convincing State Governments to invest in his idea, he has created an effective delivery mechanism that brings engineers, teachers and architects together to implement and spread his idea to rural government schools. Kabir is also Advisor Infrastructure for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India. He has advised us on the design and development of the Nourishing Schools toolkit.

Khondaker Hasibul Kabir

introduces himself as a community architect. He tries to understand how professional designers can engage in people’s everyday design process and be more useful. Kabir is the co-founder of Co.Creation.Architects (CCA) that works with human and non-human communities to co-create better built and natural habitats. In 2022, CCA received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and UIA-2030 Award for ‘Co-creation of Urban River Spaces in Jhenaidah City’. Kabir is a core team member of Platform of Community Action and Architecture (POCAA) that works in Bangladesh and Community Architects Network (CAN) that works in 19 Asian countries. He teaches landscape and architecture at BRAC University. He is a visiting faculty of Bengal Institute for Architecture, Landscapes and Settlements. Kabir has a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and a Master’s in Architecture in Landscape Design from the University of Sheffield, He followed a postgraduate course in ‘Organized Self-help Housing, Planning and Management’ organized by Lund University, Sweden and FUPROVI, Costa Rica. His research and practice focus on Ecological Landscape, community-led housing and people-led city planning.

Kirtee Shah

is the founder President of India Habitat Forum (INHAF). He has been on several committees set up by the Planning Commission of India; was on the Board of Directors of HUDCO, and has consulted with several UN agencies, the World Bank, CDIA and others. He was advisor to the GOI’s 50,000 houses project for the war victims in Sri Lanka and Chaired a Committee, set up by HUDCO, for the Rejuvenation and Strengthening of the Building Centres Network in India. He is Chairman and Chief Architect of KSA Design Planning Services Pvt Ltd., an Ahmedabad based firm of practicing architects.

Riddhi Bora

is the Founder and Principal Architect at Prayog Design Collective in Pune. Her diverse professional experiences in architecture have shaped her into a skilled, thoughtful, and confident designer. She focuses on sustainability, guided by context-sensitive design, careful material choices, and detailing. Her approach is people-centric and planet-sensitive, aimed at improving the built environment for present and future generations. She is committed to continuously working, learning, and immersing herself in the field to live, work, and create to the best of her ability.

Sandeep Mahajan

is a humanitarian architect, consultant, academician, philanthropist, avid traveler, and marathon runner. With a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Pune University, he began his career at Padmashree Balkrishna Doshi’s Vastushilpa Foundation in Ahmedabad, gaining exposure to housing and public projects. He later worked on the Dharavi Redevelopment proposal under the Prime Minister’s Grant Project with MASHAL.

In 1993, he started his independent practice, focusing on slum redevelopment in Pune. In 2005, he co-founded Omkar Associates, providing architectural consultancy services for urban poor housing, low-income groups, and affordable housing solutions for both public and private sectors. The firm also engages in public interest projects such as riverfront development and public transport.

His professional accolades include awards from HUDCO, the Builders Association of India, and various government bodies. He has also been recognized for his contributions to sustainable urban planning and housing. His social engagements include founding Shyamchi Aai Foundation and serving as a trustee for the Investment in Man Trust and Earnest Friends for Humanity Foundation.

Rahul Malwadkar

integrates practical aesthetics with end-user sensitivity and regulatory standards in all his projects. After graduating from BKPS, Pune in 1992, he joined Malwadkar Architects, continuing the legacy as the second generation in this esteemed architectural practice. With 31 years of experience, Rahul has expanded the firm’s portfolio by adding a new vertical in slum rehabilitation in Pune. Since 2008, he has carved a niche for the firm in this area, overseeing 65 ongoing SRA projects and successfully completing around 25. His expertise has been recognized with two ASRA awards for well-built SRA structures. In addition to slum rehabilitation, he has worked on numerous small housing projects for renowned builders in the city, contributing to society through his profession.