rise in the city 2018 – pushing the boundaries of design

Introducing rise in the city 2018 – a unique architecture competition for students and recent graduates worldwide.

The challenge is to design an affordable and sustainable housing prototype for Maseru, the capital of Lesotho – an city challenged by a growing population, increased urban migration, climate change and scarcity of resources.

BOND founded rise to equip the people of Lesotho, Southern Africa with the resources and skills they need to tackle the poverty and housing problems they are facing.

100% of proceeds from rise in the city will go directly towards rise’s current project – a design-build training program for Lesotho’s unemployed youth.

How the competition works

Lesotho is a lower middle income country completely surrounded by South Africa. For this competition, its capital city, Maseru is being split into 100 virtual blocks. Virtual residency is being offered for 3 entities per block:

Phase One
100 Leading architecture and design firms are invited to take up virtual residence of one of the blocks for free.

In return, they mentor and critique the student competition entry who will also take up virtual residency of the same block. AND offer an architectural experience to the sponsor of their block. This architectural experience can be a networking lunch with the senior design team or a tour of a building they have designed if one is located close to their office.

Phase Two
100 companies keen to gain a one-on-one networking opportunity, choose a Maseru block to sponsor for only $1,200 and get to enjoy the experience with the resident architecture firm in their block.

Phase Three
100 students and recent architecture graduates are invited to enter the architecture competition and design an affordable residential house for low income families in an urban setting for Maseru.

A high profile jury will shortlist the best 10 entries that will be exhibited at various events internationally. There will be one international winner and one winner from Lesotho who will be announced at the end of January 2019.

100% of proceeds goes directly towards the project – a design-build training program for Lesotho’s unemployed youth who are constructing a residential center and entrepreneurship hub for vulnerable adolescents. If enough additional funding is raised from the competition, we will then build the prototype, in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government, so that people in Lesotho can see the design, get inspired and adapt to build houses that are equally as sustainable and made from locally sourced materials.

By getting involved with rise in the city, either by mentoring a student competition entry, sponsoring one of the city blocks or entering the competition, you will help give the people of Lesotho the opportunity to better their lives for themselves.

Here’s the full competition brief.

Who you help

rise is working towards a world where sustainable social enterprises, created by local entrepreneurs are the norm. Through our professional network, rise links social entrepreneurs from low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa to fundamental resources that they would otherwise not have access to, in order to fulfill their potential.

The first rise project, follows the in loco “hands-on, bottom-up” approach, to deliver a new building with accommodation, study and service facilities for the children at a very overcrowded orphanage in Lesotho, Southern Africa. Learn more.

This combined with entrepreneurship training and mentoring, will enable the orphanage to provide enough accommodation for the children and to become more self-sustaining by launching income-generating activities.

True to the rise ethos, the local community will be instrumental through this process, with the support and expertise of industry experts.

rise is a not-for-profit organization, co-founded by BOND Events as an integral part of its Social Responsibility Program.

To find out more, visit www.riseint.org/ritc2018