Final Submissions

After 6 months of working together as teams, during charrettes and with the community, Congratulations to the 2015 DC Affordable Living Design Competition 1st Place winning project “Urban Grapevine!” The team successfully created 10-15 single family market rate and affordable homes in the community of Deanwood, in Southeast Washington, DC. The project excelled in all of the Living Building Challenge v3.0 petals: Place, Water, Energy, Health and Happiness, Material, Equity and Beauty.

The jury agreed, “We all would like to live there!” The project name honors the song “I heard it through the Grapevine” recorded by Deanwood resident Marvin Gaye. Kamina Newsome, our juror from the community, especially liked the internal courtyard where from inside the homes people could see their children playing in the yard. The “Urban Grapevine” team was Mike Binder (Binder Regenerative Design,) Marcie Meditch (Meditch Murphey Architects,) Thomas Serra (Independent Engineering,) Lael Taylor (Meditch Murphey Architects) and Jenny Wienckowski (Rain Underground, LLC.)

All team photos include the competition’s top sponsors, Mohawk, Doo Consulting and Certain-Teed.

20150521_02-UrbanGrape-Economic Feasibility Narrative

20150521_02-UrbanGrapevine-Declare List Letters

20150521_02-UrbanGrapevine-Materials List

20150521_02-UrbanGrapevine-Strategy Narrative

Congrats to the 2nd Place winners, the “Deanwood Market” team was made up of William Teass and Charles Warren (Taess Warren Architects,) Ryan Moody and Jason Reibold (Moody Landscape Architecture) and Chris French (District Homes.) This project also excelled at all of the petals, most of all energy and place.

20150521_05-DeanwoodMarket-Narrative

Honorable mention was also given to the project “Coming Together” by team 521 composed of Lindsey Falasca (Hickok Cole Architects,) Elin Zurbrigg (Mi Casa Inc,) Paul Totten (WSP in the USA,) Daniel Moring (IBC Engineering) and Apryl Webb (Skanska.) Bethany Bezak of DC Water thought this project was the most innovative in its water treatment. This project also incorporated a workplace strategy for the community.

20150521_16-ComingTogether-FINAL SUBMISSION

Bill Hutchins, a competitor from Helicon Works so eloquently put it, “the success of the competition is bigger than a winner. It’s really the movement that won.”

Thank you to the International Living Future Institute and Jason McLennan the author of the Living Building Challenge. Jason established this unique and inspirational forum to collaborate and synergize concepts of sustainability for the built environment. A big thank you to Maribeth DeLorenzo and Karanja Slaughter of DHCD, Tommy Wells (Director) and Bill Updike of DDOE. Thanks to judges, speakers, sponsor, competitors, volunteers and everyone involved!

With this competition we successfully advanced the collective knowledge of sustainability in Washington DC Metropolitan Region. Together we can draw new inspiration from that collective body of work.