Woodhead

Adelaide Office Challenge Cambodia House Design Competition

Woodhead's Adelaide office competes in internal design competition to propose new housing systems in rural Cambodia

The Woodhead Adelaide office has recently completed an internal design competition challenging the designers to propose an innovative response to housing design in rural Cambodia.

In Cambodia logging has been banned due to post-war deforestation, and at present non for profit organisations in the area helping to establish residential communities for those in need, are struggling to source materials from reputable, reliable and ethical sources. The Woodhead design competition entrants proposed many innovative cladding and construction systems, with a focus on material application, construction and appropriateness to context.

The competition was set up as a response to Bronwyn Marshalls recent time spent in Cambodia volunteering with UK company Volunteer Projects Overseas (VPO). For VPO to continue to provide sustainable solutions for the under-privileged rural families in rural Cambodia, design concepts such as the ones discovered by the Woodhead team need to be explored.

Guidelines for the company included a budget of less than US$3000, availability of materials and ease to which they could get to site, simplicity of construction, contextual appropriateness and sustainability. The house needed to be 4.5m by 4.5m and suspended above ground in preparation for wet season.

VPO’s Cambodian Regional Director, Mr Robin Dylan Jones, judged the competition praising the entrants for their ideas stating ‘There really is so much that is possible with these projects and that has become even more apparent with these designs’. The winning three entrants were chosen not only for their design and feasibility, rather their ease of construction and potential for local residents to assist builders in creating their own homes.

This design competition could not come at a better time as at present Woodhead as a company is deeply involved in sustainable thinking, inspired by involvement in Earth Hour and a month of ‘green’ event and activities during March.