Multi-family housing contest slated for RiNo

Roth Sheppard Architects and the Denver Architectural League are sponsoring the Micro-Housing Ideas Competition in an effort to engage the profession, the public and students in a dialogue to raise the level of design expectation in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West.

The competition offers designers an opportunity to engage in re-inventing the notion of responsible affordable housing with an emphasis on regenerative design.

The site selected for the competition is across from Zeppelin Development’s TAXI complex at 3457 Ringsby Court in Denver's River North (RiNo) neighborhood. Parameters of the competition include the design of an eight-unit micro-housing complex that provides an entry identity for the TAXI community; public access to the South Platte River; an affordable housing design; modularity and prefabrication; "thriveability" as it relates to natural ecologies and human modes of life; and the appropriate use of technology, materials and building systems.

"We expect this ideas competition and exhibition to catalyze some of the most innovative and provocative design thinking for multi-family housing ever seen in our region," says Jeffrey Sheppard, cofounder and design principal of Roth Sheppard. "Micro-housing is still on the cutting edge in the U.S., but there is no reason that Denver can't be one of the cities to lead the way."

Registration extends through May 1, with designs due by 5 p.m. May 9. For more information visit the micro-housing competition web site.

Submissions will be judged by a panel of authorities in Denver architecture, art, design, planning, development and media. 

The exhibition opens May 10, with winners announced May 17.
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Read more articles by Margaret Jackson.

Margaret is a veteran Denver real estate reporter and can be contacted here.
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