Integrated Habitats Design Competition, Building, Finalists, News, Design, Exhibition

Integrated Habitats Design Competition : Architecture Contest

IHDC – Integrated Habitats Design Contest : Architecture Information

15 Sep 2010

‘Edge Hill Halls’ announced as winner of the UK’s first biodiversity focused architectural competition

picture from RESET

Integrated Habitats Design Competition Winners

RESET Development are pleased to announce the winners of the first ever UK Integrated Habitats Design Competition, run in association with CIRIA and livingroofs.org. The competition focuses on valuing biodiversity in the built environment and received a wide range of entries from participants around the country which included submissions not only from architects, but from engineers, landscape designers and students.

The success of this years competition has now resulted in the IHDC becoming an annual event with the 2011 launch to take place next year. The 2010 winning entry submitted by Maria-Cristina Banceanu, Edge Hill Halls of Residence in Liverpool, was an outstanding example of a holistic approach to design with nature at its heart.

pictures from RESET

“This project illustrates an impressive combination of clever site planning with attention to detail. This entrant really did interface with the brief, giving attention to local species of plants and biodiversity issues. There is practical integration of energy efficiency, water conservation and biodiversity features. This did not however compromise the wider of issues of sustainability addressed in the scheme. The judges were charmed by the thoughtful inclusion of space for bats and birds.” –
IHDC JUDGING PANEL

The runner-up, ‘Matripolis’, a brownfield development on the Swan Hunter site on the Tyne designed by Paul Jones and David Dobereiner, and the highly commended entry ‘The Seed Catalogue’, a masterplanning approach for Hull designed by team RED – also impressed the judges as both offered ways to integrate nature into dense urban sites. The IHDC Awards Ceremony takes place tonight as part of CIRIA’S and livingroofs.org’s two day World Green Roof Congress where the winners will be presented with prizes sponsored by Natural England and Keir London as well as free tickets to the Congress itself.

The 3 prize-winning entries, along with the 5 other finalists, will be displayed as part of a 5 week public exhibition in the Cafe Gallery of the Building Centre, Store Street, from 14th September until 16th October. The entries can also be viewed online at www.ihdc.org.uk. The exhibition includes an introduction to RESET’s collaborative manifesto “A Future of the World in 100 Objects”. Visitors to the exhibition will be encouraged to submit their own ideas for an ‘object’ which they think should be included as part of the manifesto.

Integrated Habitats Design Competition – Further Information

IHDC Background

“Biodiversity matters,” states Gary Grant, independent ecologist and one of the IHDC’s instigators. “It is the foundation of all life – human life and civilisation as well. To reverse biodiversity loss, particularly when caused by a changing climate, we need to conserve and restore habitats, not just in the countryside, but in the cities too. And not just in parks and other green spaces, but also in the built environment, including the buildings themselves.

Based on a similar competition organised by the City of Portland in 2007, the IHDC was devised by Dusty Gedge, Gary Grant, and RESET Director Blanche Cameron with the objective of stimulating holistic designs for the built environment that give full consideration to biodiversity, integrating habitats and being sensitive to the water cycle and the wider environment as well as addressing human needs and comforts.

Integrated Habitats Design Competition Winning Entries

· First Prize £2000

Edge Hill Halls

Maria-Cristina Banceanu, Liverpool University Architecture Department, First Year student

· Runner-Up £1000

Matripolis

Paul Jones and David Dobereiner

· Highly Commended

The Seed Catalogue

Susannah Hagan, Silvio Caputo, Mark Gaterell: Team RED

JUDGES

The judges came from a wide range of organisations including Natural England, the Environment Agency, Forum for the Future, CIRIA, the Institution of Civil Engineers, AECB and the Bat Conservation Trust. Members of the judging panel, including the competition’s instigators Dusty Gedge (livingroofs.org), independent ecologist Gary Grant, and Blanche Cameron (RESET), with Brian McDonald from Natural England and Justin Bere of Bere Architects, will be speaking at the opening night of the IHDC Exhibition and discussing the importance of biodiversity as an integrated part of the design process.

Gary Grant, CEnv, MIEEM, BSc (Hons)

Gary is a chartered environmentalist and ecologist with 30 years of experience involving several hundred projects of ecological survey and assessment, biodiversity action planning, habitat creation, wetland restoration, regional planning, green infrastructure planning, site design and management plans. He began work with the London Wildlife Trust in the 1980s and worked on the ‘Wildlife in Docklands’ project.

He is an expert on green roofs and living walls, published by BRE Press, contributor to the London Plan Policy on Living Roofs and Walls and the Green Roof Guidance for Greater Manchester. Projects have included the Westfield living wall, Shepherds Bush, London 2012 Olympic Park, the Natural History Museum Wildlife Garden, the SE Wales Networked Environmental Region, Bedford River Valley Park Framework, Deep Bay Link in Hong Kong, Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi and Education City in Qatar.

Dusty Gedge, Living roof campaigner, policy instigator, author and teacher

Dusty is internationally recognised as the UK’s leading authority on biodiversity and green roofs, campaigning for their whole scale adoption in major developments in London and elsewhere in the UK. In 2008, he coauthored “Living Roofs and Walls”, a technical report to support the New London Plan, for which he was awarded the Andrew Lees Memorial Award.

He co-founded livingroofs.org in 2004, the first independent green roof organisation in the UK and works closely with colleagues in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Canada and the USA on design and implementation of green roofs. He is co-author, with colleague John Little, of a DIY e-guide for small scale builders to build their own green roofs, and of ‘Building Greener’ the first comprehensive guidance on green roofs and green walls in the

Brian McDonald, Senior Specialist, Thames Gateway, Natural England

Natural England wants to ensure Green Infrastructure is delivered as an integral component in all development and regeneration. We are working in partnership with housing developers, planning authorities and regeneration partnerships to plan, design and deliver green infrastructure that provides multiple benefits for people and wildlife.

Natural England and key players in the development sector are forming a vital

partnership to understand how to value, design and create quality green infrastructure.

Justin Bere, Director, Bere Architects

Born into an African bush environment, Justin Bere spent his early days speaking Swahili and enjoying the diversity of wild nature around him. This and the organic farm his parents later ran in Somerset provided him with formative experiences of a holistic nature. A fully registered architect since 1987, he from the very start of his professional practice resisted building at large scales or on greenfield sites, preferring the embrace of nature in his both his life and work.

A FUTURE OF THE WORLD IN 100 OBJECTS:

www.futureofheworld.org

In a forward facing version of the British Museum and BBC’s “History of the World in 100 Objects”, this exhibit presents a selection of objects which have been submitted by RESET members and partners to illustrate the tools, ideas and resources which will be essential to our survival into a natural, resilient, local, low carbon, biodiverse future. The exhibit includes a submission box for participants to make their own proposals for ‘objects’ and believe should form part of RESET’s “manifesto of the future”.

SUPPORTERS

RESET is a partner of the International Year of Biodiversity, www.biodiversityislife.net and the competition is sponsored by Natural England, Keir, CIRIA and livingroofs.org.

RESET Development: www.reset-development.org

RESET is a young charity with a mission to help support our built environment adapt to a changing climate, through an ecological approach to design and training, facilitation, advocacy and research. RESET’s purpose is to expand the awareness, knowledge, skills and capacity of communities and professionals in the resilience of our built environment through an understanding of our dependence on ecology and natural processes. RESET responds to the current gap in low-carbon, climate change mitigation construction skills and knowledge by:

· providing practical, hands-on training for a range of beneficiaries (Built Environment Professionals, planners, students, community groups, individuals, NGOs and INGOs)

· running an advocacy campaign (competitions, events & exhibitions) promoting low-carbon ecological design)

· supporting community groups that wish to help improve their built environment by embarking on their own sustainable building project

· working with international partners to raise awareness of our impacts elsewhere in the world and to share knowledge across international borders on adaptation to climate change.

Thanks also to

Voluntary Design & Build (vD&B): www.voluntarydesignbuild.org.uk

Dufaylite Ltd: Supplier of the exhibition cardboard, www.dufaylite.com

The British Library Sound Archive: Sponsors of audio tracks for the exhibition

Lend Lease: Sponsors of the IHDC Exhibition Reception, www.lendlease.co.uk

12 Aug 2010

Integrated Habitats Design Competition Finalists

Judges select eight finalists for new UK competition

RESET Development are pleased to announce that the eight finalists for the first ever UK Integrated Habitats Design Competition have now been announced. Submissions included entries from a variety of backgrounds including students, architects, ecologists, landscape designers and engineers. The judges were impressed by the diverse range of projects proposed and will be awarding prizes to the top three entries.

First prize of £2000, runner-up of £1000 and highly commended places will be presented as part of CIRIA’s bi-annual World Green Roof Congress at 6.00pm on Wednesday 15th September (www.worldgreenroofcongress.com) with the top three finalists also receiving a free ticket to the 2-day congress which is run in partnership with livingroofs.org. The eight finalist proposals will be published online and will also be showcased at the 5 week IHDC Exhibition will will open on Monday 13th September.

image from RESET Development

Based on a similar competition organised by the City of Portland in 2007, the IHDC emphasises the importance of biodiversity in the built environment. The competition invited holistic designs that integrate biodiversity, emphasising the value of good quality design that puts nature at its heart.

“The design of the built environment has all too often ignored the essential life-giving support of soil, plants and animals”, says Dusty Gedge, the UK’s leading living roofs campaigner and policy writer and one of the competition’s instigators. “Ecology and biodiversity are often relegated to a subordinate role in the design process.”

To overcome this perceived discrepancy, Dusty, Gary Grant, the independent ecologist and masterplanner, and RESET teamed up to organise the IHDC. The competition encourages an intra-disciplinary approach to design that expresses the potential for nature to produce healthy, low energy, high quality environments that are adapted for a changing climate.

IHDC Finalists, alphabetical:

· City Park Hove

Maria Hawton-Mead, and Jon Turner and Fergus Carr of Turner Associates

· Edge Hill Halls

Maria-Cristina Banceanu, Liverpool University architecture student

· Happy Habitats

Phil Hampshire, Katherine Sydney, Aylin Ludwig, Laura Crawford, Celia Way, Victoria Wilson, Tamasine Scott, Buro Happold & Grant Associates

· Matripolis

Paul Jones and David Dobereiner

· National Wildflower Centre

Grant Luscombe, Ernst ter Horst, Julie Godefroy, Thomas Lefevre: Landlife with Ian Simpson Architects and Hoare Lea Engineers

· Overflow Car Park

Claire Mookerjee and Mat Triebner

· Satoyama

Hiroyuki Ichihara and Atsumi Sako

· The Seed Catalogue

Susannah Hagan, Silvio Caputo, Mark Gaterell: Team RED

The work of the finalists will be unveiled at the opening night of the IHDC Exhibition which will be taking place in the Building Centre, London at 6.30pm on Monday 13th September. The exhibition will also be open to the public from 14th September until the 16th October.

7 Mar 2010

Integrated Habitats Design Competition – New Contest

IHDC:

Integrated habitat design ensures that development maintains the health of the natural systems that we all depend on (“Human needs and a healthy environment are not opposing claims that must be balanced; instead, they are inexorably linked by chains of cause and effect”, Jared Diamond).

The focus of the competition is to ensure that working with nature, adapting to climate change and enhancing biodiversity is integral to the design of new urban, suburban and rural built developments. We hope that the IHDC will provide a forum for visionaries and innovators to design better, more sustainable habitats for all of us.

The competition is open to everyone. We hope to encourage a trans-disciplinary approach that cuts across the engineering, architecture, landscape, construction and ecological sectors.

Brief:

Submissions can be for any built environment design project in an urban, suburban or rural location, of any size, anywhere in the UK

Designs can be for new-builds, retro-fits, open spaces, public spaces, transitional-spaces, residential, commercial, mixed-use, brown-field etc

Submissions must take into account each of the Design Criteria (Ecosystem Services, Nature, Water, Energy & low-carbon, Livability, Economics)

As a guiding principle: a bee should never be further than 20 metres from a food source within the site and a hedgehog should be able to cross the scheme in safety.

Submissions can be made by anyone – individuals or teams of up to 7 people

For further information please visit the competition website – http://www.ihdc.org.uk

Integrated Habitats Design Competition information from IHDC

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