Formerly known as the Design Leadership Council (DLC) Design Competition, the annual Perkins and Will competition was renamed to honor the late architect Philip Freelon in 2019. According to Design Leadership Council Director Casey Jones, "For 17 years, teams around the world have invested enormous amounts of passion and creative thought into our annual design competition. It’s one of the hallmarks of our firm’s design culture, which is rooted in purpose, curiosity, research, and innovation. " 

The 2020 competition brief focused on affordable housing and design initiatives addressing this ongoing issue. This year, 68 design teams across all Perkins and Will firms participated in the competition. 

Below are the winning projects and project descriptions provided by competition coordinators.

PRIZE WINNERS

First Prize: Arroyo by Vangel Kukov and Hala EL Khorazaty

Infused with principles of social equity, the project also introduces a plan for subsidizing residents’ monthly rent in exchange for community service. The outcome envisioned by Vangel and Hala is that the residents will strengthen their sense of community and thrive—physically, mentally, socially, and economically.

Second Prize: “Living Closer,” designed by Giancarlo Gastaldin and Gaia Cellay

The Living Closer team chose to focus on all three sites—New York, Denver, and Los Angeles—by implementing a modular system that can easily respond to unique climate conditions and site specificity. Its prefabricated units can be disassembled, replaced, reused, and recycled over the course of the building’s lifespan to allow for expansion or downsizing, as needed. Jurors appreciated the team’s creative investigation into different unit types, as well as the diversity of ages, races, and ethnicities they included in their project’s renderings.

Second Prize: “Our Backyard,” designed by Foad Faizi, Smith Marks, and Allen Pratt

The Our Backyard team focused on a modular system concept in New York. The designers created a flexible framework that allows living units to be arranged in multiple ways, catering to the lifestyle of young professionals. An open plan concept empowers tenants to become active participants in the community, while taking advantage of the site’s existing green space and its view. This strategy further maximized daylighting and created a better visual connection to the site and its surroundings.

MERIT AWARDS

"Aspen Cooperative," designed by Richard Schunemann, Vaia Vakouli, and Thomas Henderson Schwartz

"Pivot," designed by Mahdiar Ghaffarian, Hannah Gibson, Alyssa Quiring and Rick Browner

"The Sponge," designed by Max Hu, Qian Yu, and Zhoufan Chen

To learn more about the competition and competition submissions click here.