matterbetter: The Latest Architecture and News

Competition platform matterbetter has announced the winners of its Syria: Post-War Housing Competition for architectural students and professionals. The competition, initiated earlier this year, called for solutions to the housing scarcity crisis in Syria, “which will affect the country as more and more cities of the war-torn country will be freed and refugees will start to come back.”

With refugee camps around Europe and other countries in generally poor conditions, and Syrian towns in ruins, one solution to the housing crisis becomes the creation of living conditions that are attractive for once-displaced Syrians to return. The competition asked for a new housing concept that would be able to permanently accommodate people in need of a new home and new life in Syria.

Out of 245 submissions, matterbetter selected three winners, each of which was awarded a cash prize, there were also nine honorable mentions.

The winners of the Syria: Post-War Housing Competition are:

Open-idea competition platform matterbetter has announced the winners of its Concordia Lighthouse Competition, which sought to pay tribute to the Costa Concordia Disaster of 2012 when a cruise ship capsized off the coast of Tuscany, causing 33 deaths. Open to architectural students and young architectural professionals, participants were asked to “redefine contemporary lighthouse typology and take into consideration advances in technology, development of sustainable systems and its metaphorical value which has made it one of the most inspiring structures in the world.”

Out of 282 entries, first place was awarded to Gwizdala Andrzej and Adrien Mans for their Concordia Lightscape design, which disperses the idea of a lighthouse into thin lines that increase in density as they move closer to the sea.