Winners of the 'rise in the city' design competition allowed for designers to reimagine affordable housing in Maseru, Lesotho

rise in the city is a unique international architecture competition for students and recent graduates worldwide. The challenge was to design affordable and sustainable housing solutions for Africa’s growing population. The competition is organized by rise International and BOND Events building on the success of rise in the city 2017. All innovative problem solvers in the built environment were invited to design a low-income housing prototype in an effort to curb Lesotho’s housing problem in an environment challenged by: increased urban migration, climate change and scarcity of resources.

This week the non-profit rise International (Relationships Inspiring Social Enterprise) announced its winner of the international architecture competition which focuses on affordable housing projects. During the 2018-2019 competition, designers were challenged to design high-quality, sustainable, and energy-efficient homes for Maseru, the capitol of Lesotho. The competition's concept site is known for their cold winters and hot summers. According to the design brief the city of Maseru was split into 100 virtual blocks that were assigned to the competition applicants. Each applicant was provided a sponsor and a mentor from well known architecture firms to provide support. One last requirement was that each design would allow for the home to be scalable, meaning one family living within the home could incrementally add extensions or the home could be replicated as a larger building.

After reviewing 56 project entries from 30 countries two winners were chosen for their outstanding work and approach to the competition prompt. Tanmoy Dey of Bangladesh and Tumelo Lerta of Lesotho were chosen as this year's winners.

Winning Design: "Creating Spaces" by Tanmoy Dey

Dey is a graduate of Shahjalal University of Science & Technology in Bangladesh. His project focused on merging resources native to the area, cultural representation, a human centered design approach and an emphasis on energy and cost efficiency. According the jurors, “The ingenuity of Tanmoy Dey’s winning scheme is encapsulated in the simplicity of the plan, and the ability of the house to incrementally expand vertically. The building can evolve into a more urban and dense environment with a good public street presence and an interior with enhanced privacy.”

The People's Choice Award: "New + Old" by Tumelo Lerata 

Tanmoy was the only local finalist whose project made it through the final stages of the competition. Lerata is a recent graduate of Lerotholi Polytechnic in Masura as an Architectural Tecnician. During the competition Lerata was mentored by Benhamin Porto of the New York City-based firm Snarkitecture. 

Following a community design workshop that will include both Dey and Lerata, along with low income families and the local construction sector, the winning design will be modified and built by the Lesotho Housing and Land Development Corporation. The prototype will be used to gauge the market response as to whether it is a viable solution to the current shortage of affordable housing in Lesotho.

To view other project submissions click here.