Everyone wants a home of their own

Utile’s entry, “Everyone wants a home of their own”, was selected as the first place winner of the domestiCITY [for an affordable atlanta] design competition. The program called upon designers across the globe to help shape the future of housing in Atlanta, GA through the development of innovative concepts that promote new design and construction options for affordable and sustainable housing. Responding teams were charged with proactively addressing rising land and construction costs, and the increasing demand for affordable housing by creating a scalable solution that can be deployed in Atlanta and other urban centers. Submitting teams were asked to propose innovative building concepts, site plans, programming options, sustainable strategies, and economic feasibility, while placing high importance on the creation of community.

The intent of Utile’s entry is to replace the existing SRO units on site with more permanent housing, and to exploit the inherent economies of small dwelling units by creating a community that integrates a more diverse and growing cross section of the population that for a variety of reasons live alone, including age, health, income, or job-related mobility; a community that is equally attractive to those with few options to leave and those who can choose to live elsewhere.

Our team completed Phase II of the process, which involved discussions with the City of Atlanta’s Department of City Planning and concluded with a presentation to the public in March 2018.