In partnership with Croydon-based developer Brick By Brick, the Housing for a Better World competition set out to find architecture practices with diverse talent and create developments that respond to the diversity in local communities.
We wanted to show how the commissioning process can be used not only to attract a greater diversity of organisations, but how it can also encourage organisations to address their own diversity challenges, and provide a platform to showcase diverse talent, thus driving change across the industry.
The winning practice, Jas Bhalla Architects, beat the five other ethnically diverse teams on the shortlist with their ‘Parade Living’ concept, which seeks to improve poor quality housing above linear retail parades – a type of housing which is prevalent in Croydon and disproportionately used by minority ethnic groups.
A number of organisations from different sectors have contacted us to learn from our process.
