SCG’s final round of Sustainable Design Competition announced

The competition was held to search for creative housing solutions which can help people in area prone to be affected by disaster have a sustainable and disaster-resilient house with limited budget. This is one of the efforts of SCG to provide a chance for Vietnamese architect students to improve their skills, and also to raise public awareness of sustainable development - a long standing practice of SCG throughout its 100 years of operation.

The winner is 14A1 team from Van Lang University with the concept design of “Houses in Floating Market”. Apart from the total VND25 million ($1,200), the first prize winning team will also receive a trip to Thailand and have a chance to get new experience and learn more from Thailand Architect Fair 2013 in May 2013 as well as visit the house built following the winner’s design of the “Floodway Home,” the sustainable housing design competition in Thailand. Moreover, the design of first prize winner will be applied in reality to build a safe and sound home for people in affected area of disasters. Total expense will be sponsored by SCG.

All designs submitted to this competition showed fresh and useful creativity of Vietnamese architect students which can be adapted to build the sustainable house against climate change and disasters.

Sattawat Thitaram, country director of SCG Building Materials - Vietnam said: “Through this competition, we witnessed that the students could apply to use the building materials appropriately and creatively.”

Vietnam is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world with around 70 per cent of its population at risk of typhoons, torrential storm and flooding. With the vision of a world where everyone has a decent place to live, Habitat for Humanity Vietnam is working closely in partnership with low income households to help them build safe and decent housing.

The contest was launched in November 2012. After the competition announcement, there were over 26 ideas from talented youngsters in just two months.