Displaced: Design for Inclusive Cities Winners Announced
This spring, Design in Public and AIA Seattle hosted Displaced: Design for Inclusive Cities, an international design ideas competition calling upon designers of all disciplines to apply the power of design thinking to the urgent need to welcome, support and empower urban immigrants and refugees.
The distinguished jury included Mayor Allan Ekberg (City of Tukwila), Charles Mudede (The Stranger), Cleo Barnett (Amplifier), Milenko Matanovic (Pomegranate Center and Institute for Everyday Democracy), Osama Quotah AIA (LMN Architects), Sergio Dávila (Metropolitan University, Mexico City) and Sheryl Cababa (Artefact).
From 40 submittals, the jury chose 5 final award winners, with a diversity of ideas for improving the immigrant and refugee experience. The jury especially appreciated common themes of humanity centered design that allowed for self-agency and creating experiences, and projects that focus on a journey versus a product. Design in Public and AIA Seattle awarded $15,000 in prize dollars and a public gallery exhibition to the winners who developed ideas that rethink how we design our cities to improve the lives of everyone.
The winners were announced at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center as part of the Seattle Design Festival and in conjunction with the Discovery Center’s exhibition, also a part of the festival, Design With the 90%: Improving Lives Around the World.
Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to the global community who participated in this event!
First Prize
Comparte/lo Simple by Juan Manuel Garcia Alvarez & Mariana Santibañez Pantoja is a conceptual solution of a network of safety and information hubs to support migrants moving through Mexico from Honduras and Central America, providing for basic human needs, access to vital information, and involving migrants in exploring what safety means. View submittal.
Second Prize
Seattle Resource Hubs | Connect + Access by Sundberg Kennedy Ly-Au Young Architects is a conceptual project idea using uninspired physical spaces at regional transit centers and in the urban core, like parking garages, to create centers for face-to-face interactions among and with refugee and immigrant communities with resources, information, and opportunities. View submittal.
Third Prize
Cuiseen by Benjamin Ku is the idea of using a food truck training program as cultural story-telling through food and as a structure that helps build future opportunities. View submittal.
Honorable Mention
Displaced Handbook by Clemente Miller, Wendy Greenberg, Daniel Lee, and Ricki Xie in partnership with World Relief is a proposal for a physical handbook and digital app about key needs and services a displaced person might need navigating a new city. View submittal.
Student Winner
Rose Triangle Commons by Juliana Hom and Mo Li is a studio project proposing the creation of a neighborhood cultural and transportation hub on a currently awkward leftover lot in the Rainier Valley neighborhood of Seattle. View submittal.
Displaced: Design for Inclusive Cities was presented by Design in Public and AIA Seattle, and sponsored by DLR Group.
