Cincinnati leaders have announced the winning designs in the BuildReady competition, a city-backed effort to create pre-approved plans for two-, three- and four-family homes.
The initiative, which launched earlier this spring, is part of a growing national trend to use pre-approved plans as a way to speed up construction and solve the large housing crisis.
City planning staff told The Enquirer that the winning designs of the BuildReady competition won't immediately be built in Cincinnati, but instead are meant serve as inspiration and as a conversation-starter about the overall process. Notably, the design competition drew 92 submissions from 29 cities, 16 states and two countries.
The winners listed below will be invited to submit formal plans
in an upcoming city request for proposals. The city has also committed to building two properties on city-owned land using the formal plans.
Check out the winning pre-approved housing ideas in each category:
Two-family homes
The "Seamless Two-Family" by Houston-based team Middle Housing Design Co., shown above, is a compact, 16-foot-wide construction with two units spread across three floors. The ground-floor unit is a stair-free flat with one bedroom and one bathroom. The upper-floor unit is a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment with third-floor flexible loft space.
"The Gable" by Maria Jose Ponce de Leon in Cincinnati is a three-story structure designed around Passive House standards, which includes an air-tight building shell that reduces on-site energy consumption. The one-bedroom, ground-floor unit is fully accessible while the two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit on the upper floors features a study space that overlooks a double-height living space.
"The WestLake" by the University of Cincinnati students William Smith and Morgan Morse includes two units in a shotgun-style building with both brick masonry and wood. The 585-square-foot unit features one bedroom and one bathroom, while the 1,330-square-foot unit features three bedrooms, and one-and-a-half bathrooms.
Three-family homes
The “3-Z House” by FFE, Inc., in Blue Ash combines two, two-bedroom units with a flexible studio apartment. Both the front unit and the rear unit, each spanning 1,060 square feet, include two bedroom and one-and-a-half bathrooms while the studio at 400 square feet includes a sleeping area and one bathroom.
The "Cincinnati 3-Way" from a Portland, Oregon-based team is a 2.5-story triplex with a shared multi-level porch. An 840-square-foot unit includes 2 bedrooms and one-and-a-half bathrooms. The 347-square-foot unit features one bedroom, one bathroom while the 962-square-foot unit includes three-bedrooms, two-bathrooms and a flexible space on the top floor.
Four-family homes
"Stairloom" by West of West Architecture + Design in Los Angeles and Portland is a four-unit, modular housing design that features two buildings connected via an interlocking "scissor stair" system. The stairs act as both access points to each unit and as gathering spaces. One fully accessible ground-floor unit features 1,065 square feet, three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Another 1,120-square-foot unit also features three bedrooms and two bathrooms, while the two, one-bedroom and one-bathroom units span between 520 and 525 square feet.
"The Modern Foursquare" by Middle Housing Design Co. is a quadplex that looks like a single-family home but features four apartments organized around an open-air central stair. Two units feature one bedroom and one bathroom while the other two include two bedrooms and one bathroom.
The "House for All Ages" by ATA Design Workshop in Houston is an energy efficient and accessible three-story quadplex. Two ground-floor units, ranging from 522 to 534 square feet, include one bedroom and one bathroom, while the other two units, each 1,087 square feet and spread across the second and third floor, feature three bedrooms and one-and-a-half bathrooms.
You can see further details about the winning designs, including floor plans, here.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: These contest-winning housing ideas could be built in Cincinnati
