1st prize
SOCIAL
DESIGN
AWARD
AFFORDABLE PALACE
project: Affordable Palace, refurbishment of Buckingham Palace year: 2019, type: open international competition program: affordable housing area: 500.000 m2, architecture: Opposite Office team: Benedikt Hartl, Thomas Haseneder, Willi Wagner location : London,UK
Affordable Housing is one of the key social issues in major cities of our time. The ever-increasing gap between rich and poor is growing faster than ever before.
Affordable Housing? I’d prefer a palace to a house (if it is for free) ...
The UK is in the midst of a housing crisis: the deepest ever, centered on London. Large parts of the population - ‚generation rent‘ and others - are locked out of the housing market and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Even someone with a good income will never catch up with the soaring housing prices. Property Guardianship and other precarious forms of living are on the rise, almost becoming the new norm. There are only a few who are satisfied with their homes. One is the Queen! Buckingham Palace is great! With its 775 rooms and 79 bathrooms the population density is not representative to the rest of London and Buckingham Palace is waiting for repurposing.
Affordable Palace was published extensivly in magaznes and newspapers in over 50 countries. Amongst many others, in:
Bauwelt
