Study Architecture 
ProPEL Rules
Eligibility
The Habitat Design Competition: Climate Positive Concrete Housing is open to students from all ACSA member schools around the world. All student entrants are required to work under the direction of a faculty sponsor from an ACSA member school. Entries will be accepted for individual as well as team solutions. Teams must be limited to a maximum of five individuals.
An ACSA member school, faculty sponsor is required to enroll students by completing an online registration form prior to registration by April 13, 2022. Registration can be done for your entire studio or for each individual student or team of students participating. Students or teams wishing to enter the competition on their own must have a faculty sponsor, who should complete the registration. There is no entry or submission fee to participate in the competition. Each registered student and faculty sponsor will receive a confirmation email that will include information on how the student(s) will upload final submissions online. Please add the email address competitions@acsa-arch.org to your address book to ensure that you receive all emails regarding your submission.
Judging Criteria
Criteria for the judging of submissions will include: concrete as the primary structural material, creative and innovative use of climate positive concrete in the design solution, successful response of the design to its surrounding context, the creative and clear approaches to designing a Habitat Home.
Submissions must clearly address the requirements of the program. In addressing the specific issues of the design challenge, submissions must demonstrate the proposals response to the following requirements:
- A strong conceptual strategy resolved in a coherent, integrated design proposal;
- The designed housing’s suitability for families;
- An understanding of the physical characteristics of the site and the local climate;
- A compelling response to the physical, emotional, and cultural needs of the inhabitants;
- A clear understanding and resolution of concrete construction and assembly;
- An informed position on vernacular and historic precedent;
- A demonstrated use of low or negative embodied carbon in materials as well as construction processes.
Registration
Faculty Sponsor
The intent of this competition is to provide an academically rigorous design challenge suitable for integration into the curriculum of an architectural design studio or course. Curriculum integration is not a requirement of competition guidelines but is strongly encouraged. The administration of the competition at each institution is left to the discretion of the faculty within the guidelines set forth in this document.
Faculty Responsibility
The administration of the competition at each institution is left to the discretion of the faculty within the guidelines set forth in this document. Work on the competition should be structured over the course of one semester during the 2021-2022 academic year.
Each faculty sponsor is expected to develop a system to evaluate the students’ work using the criteria set forth in this program. The evaluation process should be an integral part of the design process, encouraging students to scrutinize their work in a manner similar to that of the jury.
Submissions
Digital Submission Format
Submissions must be presented on four 20” x 30” digital boards, no more than 20MB. All boards are required to be uploaded through the ACSA website as JPEG files. The names of student participants, their schools, or faculty sponsors, must NOT appear on the boards, or in the project title or project title file name(s).
Digital Essay or Abstract
A brief essay, 300 words maximum, is required as part of the submission describing the most important concepts of the design project. Keep in mind that the presentation should graphically convey the design solution and context, and not rely on the design essay to convey a basic understanding of the project. The names of student participants, their schools, or faculty sponsors, must NOT appear in the design essay. This abstract is included in the final online submission, completed by the student(s) in a simple copy/paste text box.
Program Summary
A program summary, 150 words maximum, diagram/text of spaces and areas is required as part of the submission. All interior and exterior spaces are to be included; total net and gross areas are required. The program summary is included in the final online submission, uploaded by the student(s) in a simple copy/paste text box.
Required Submission Documents
Submissions must include (but are not limited to) the following required drawings:
- Site plan (with north arrow) showing proposal in its context of surrounding buildings and topography, together with details of access/circulation;
- Floor plans, for each unit, to show program elements, spatial adjacencies and navigation strategies;
- Street elevations, building elevations, site sections, and building sections sufficient to show site context and major spatial and program elements;
- Three-dimensional representations – in the form of axonometrics, perspectives showing the proposal in its context, montages and/or physical model photographs – to illustrate the character of the project;
- Large scale drawing(s), either orthographic or three dimensional, illustrating:
- the use and detailing of concrete for building structure and/or envelope;
- integrated design
Incomplete or undocumented entries will be disqualified. All drawings should be presented at a scale appropriate to the design solution and include a graphic scale.
Online Project Submission
After the faculty sponsor completes the online registration, each student will receive a confirmation email, which will include a link to complete the online submission. The student is required to submit the final entries that must be uploaded through the ACSA Competition website at www.acsa-arch.org by 11:59 pm, Pacific Time, on June 1, 2022. If the submission is from a team of students, all student team members will have the ability to upload the digital files. Once the final submit button is pressed no additional edits, uploads, or changes can be made. You may “save” your submission and return to complete. Please note: The submission is not complete until the “complete this submission” button has been pressed. For team projects, each member of team projects may submit the final project, but each project should be submitted only once. Once the final submission is uploaded and submitted, each student will receive a confirmation email notification.
The final submission upload must contain the following:
- Completed online registration including all team members and faculty sponsors,
- Each of the four 20”x30” boards uploaded individually as high resolution JPEG files, no more than 20MB each,
- A design essay or abstract (300 words maximum)
- A program summary diagram/text of spaces and areas (150 words maximum).
The names of student participants, their schools and faculty sponsors must NOT appear on the boards, abstract, program summary, or in the file name.
Winning projects will be required to submit high-resolution original files/images for use in competition publications and exhibit materials. By uploading your files, you agree that the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) has the rights to use your winning submission, images and materials in a summary publication, online and in promotional and exhibition resources. ACSA will attribute authorship of the winning design to you, your team, faculty and affiliation. Additionally, you hereby warrant that the submission is original and that you are the author(s) of the submission.
Questions
Edwin Hernández
Programs Coordinator
ehernandez@acsa-arch.org
202.785.2324
Eric W. Ellis
Senior Director of Operations and Programs
eellis@acsa-arch.org
202-785-2324
