Students Selected as Finalists for Polk County Home Design Challenge
Media and Community Advisory
Design Challenge for Affordable Housing Finalists Announced
Public invited to presentations of students’ affordable housing plans Saturday, April 20
DES MOINES, IA (April 17, 2019) – Five area high school students have been selected in a competition to design an affordable home for a fictional Des Moines family. The seventh annual Can I Be Your Neighbor Design Challenge for Affordable Housing will wrap up Affordable Housing Week with the following students vying for a $1,000 Scholarship from The Home Builders Association of Greater Des Moines, and 2nd and 3rd runners-up receiving $500 cash prizes from HOME Inc. and the Polk County Housing Trust Fund.
- Curtis Bragg, Ankeny High School
- Hailee Christensen, Ankeny High School
- Jacob Wagner, Central Campus / Hoover High School
- Jaylin Strub, Ankeny High School
- Vy Huyng, Central Campus / Abraham Lincoln High School
The Can I Be Your Neighbor Design Challenge is a design-based competition for Greater
Des Moines high school students to help raise public awareness and understanding of the importance of affordable housing in our local economy and providing a mix of housing all workers and families can afford. This year 45 students from area schools – Central Campus/Des Moines Schools, Ankeny High School and Valley High School – submitted designs for the competition.
Saturday, April 20, the finalists will present to a panel of judges and answer questions beginning 10 a.m. at Grand View University’s Krumm Business Center, 1303 Grandview Avenue, Des Moines. Winners are expected to be announced approximately 11:15 a.m. The event is free, open to the public and will include a gallery of all the students’ designs for viewing prior to the presentations. Doors open 9:15 a.m.
Additional Competition Insights:
In February, students began their work designing an affordable home for a fictional family. They were given the background of who would be living in the home, where the vacant lot is located, maximum square footage and limitations on costs. Within these parameters the students were asked to design the most appropriate affordable home for this family and its Des Moines neighborhood.
Judges score the presentations and designs based on sensitivity to the needs of the family, ingenuity of space utilization, budget realism, solutions for controlling life-cycle costs, flexibility for changing needs of the family and image of the home.
The competition is managed by ASK Studio, a Des Moines architectural firm who also sends architects into the classrooms to provide critiques during the design process. Dan Knoup, Executive Director of the Home Builders Association of Greater Des Moines and provider of the $1,000 scholarship, along with Brandon Patterson, joined the architects in visiting the classrooms and providing feedback.
Contact: Lauren Johnson, Policy & Communications Coordinator – mobile (515) 559-4871 and email ljohnson@pchtf.org.
Design Challenge Interview Opportunities: Students / Teachers; Brent Schipper, ASK Studio; Dan Knoup, Executive Director, Home Builders Association of Greater Des Moines; Pam Carmichael, Executive Director, Home Opportunities Made Easy, Inc. (HOME, Inc.); Eric Burmeister, Executive Director, Polk County Housing Trust Fund
About Affordable Housing Week
In its 7th year, Affordable Housing Week is an annual initiative spearheaded by the Polk County Housing Trust Fund to provide opportunities to learn more about the critical role of safe, stable and affordable housing in creating a healthy and economically vibrant community for everyone. The activities and events are made possible with the support of ASK Studio, Capital Crossroads, Franklin Junior High, Home Builders Association of Greater Des Moines, HOME, Inc., OpportUNITY, The Director’s Council, and United Way of Central Iowa. To learn more visit www.pchtf.org.
Remaining Events – Affordable Housing Week
THURSDAY, April 18: Exhibit and Symposium
9 AM – 4 PM Interactive Exhibit: Undesign the Redline
10 AM – 2 PM Symposium: Housing Equity, A Historical Look and Suggested Action.
Location: Franklin Junior High, 4801 Franklin Ave., Des Moines
FRIDAY, April 19 Exhibit and Bus Tour
9:00 AM – 4 PM, Interactive Exhibit, Undesign the Redline
9:00 AM – Noon, Bus Tour (Bus is FULL. Another tour is being planned for this Fall.)
Departure Location: Franklin Junior High, 4801 Franklin Ave., Des Moines
Final day for Undesign the Redline, the interactive exhibit that connects the intentional and systematic racial housing segregation of the 1930s to political and social issues of today.
SATURDAY, April 20: Can I Be Your Neighbor Design Challenge for Affordable Housing
10:00 – 11:30 AM
Location: Grand View University’s Krumm Centrum, 1300 Morton Ave., Des Moines
Media Contact: Lauren Johnson, Policy & Communications Coordinator
Office (515) 282-3233, mobile (515) 559-4871 and email ljohnson@pchtf.org
