A juried design competition lead by the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative at Kent State University recently chose three winners for housing ideas to serve grandparents raising grandchildren. Fourteen submissions were evaluated in a competition open to architects from the United States and Canada.

1st Prize - Fernando Bonilla

Entrants in the competition were asked to present preliminary designs for a 36 to 50 unit rental housing complex in Cleveland’s Fairfax neighborhood intended to serve families in which grandparents are raising their grandchildren. The competition was sponsored by Fairfax Renaissance Development Corporation (FRDC), with funding from the McGregor Foundation and management assistance from the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative.

Entrants were asked to provide overall urban design concepts for the five acre site, including unit floor plans and preliminary information on project costs and sustainability features. The entries were evaluated by a jury that included visiting design professionals, experts on aging, grandparents from the Fairfax community and members of the FRDC staff.

The first prize of $10,000 was awarded to Fernando Bonilla of Cottage City, MD. The second prize of $5,000 went to Plumbob LLC of Philadelphia and the third prize of $2,500 was won by FORUM Architects of Cleveland. The jury also awarded an honorable mention to Jonathan Barnes Architecture and Design, LTD of Columbus. In coming weeks FRDC will negotiate with the competition winner to assemble a design team for the built project, with the intention of breaking ground in 2009.