The goal of CONSTRUIRE LA PRÉVENTION DU PALUDISME is to retrofit 24 housing units in the community of Minkoaméyos in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The design of the housing units should combine the use of common sense principles and innovative ideas to minimize the transmission of malaria. Our campaign is unique in that we not only seek design excellence, but design that truly integrates architectural construction with community health improvements.

Please carefully read through the project brief and refer to the Resources for more background information and drawings. Thank you for participating and good luck!

April 25th - World Malaria Day Competition Launch
May 25th - Round 1 Questions Submission Deadline
June 1st - Round 1 Questions Answered
July 20th – Registration Deadline
July 27th - Round 2 Question Submission Deadline
August 3rd - Round 2 Questions Answered
August 20th - World Mosquito Day - Submission Deadline
September 17th - Round 1 Jury Review - 20 Finalists Announced
October 3rd - World Habitat Day - Round 2 Jury Review - 3 Winners Announced
November 11th - Construction Drawings Due for Winning Designs

International and local professionals and students are welcome to participate. Architects, medical practitioners, environmental engineers, urban planners, entomologists, product/industrial designers, public health specialists, and other interested individuals are especially encouraged to submit their ideas to the competition.

ARCHIVE strongly encourages multidisciplinary, cross-cultural, and international collaboration. The judging panel will look favorably upon such partnerships. One of the most important features of the competition is the capacity of entrants to demonstrate collaborative efforts with individuals from other disciplines. This is an important part of the project and we strongly encourage you to utilize it. To find a team individuals can submit a profile with details of their location and expertise. You can search a database to link up with potential partners who have a different expertise and/or geographical base. Visit the Create A Team page to learn more!

One project submission per group is permitted. Participation is prohibited for those directly affiliated with ARCHIVE or the judging panel. No more than six people are permitted per team. Participants may enter individually.

The housing units to be retrofitted are all located in the community of Minkoaméyos, an informal housing settlement in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. There are approximately 42,000 inhabitants in this community with the majority living in single-story houses of about 70m², generally built without the consultation of an architect or engineer. The malaria burden in Yaoundé is significant, with 30% of medical visits being malaria-related.

For more information, please see the Resources.

Malaria affects millions of people around the world each year and is one of the top causes of mortality in Cameroon, particularly affecting children and pregnant women. The Anopheles female mosquito transmits this vector borne disease when it bites human flesh.

Currently, the most effective methods of preventing transmission are through the use of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), indoor-spraying, and anti-malarial medication. ITNs play a crucial role as a protective barrier from mosquitoes at night, however they have limitations. Although they may protect people sleeping under the nets, the rest of the house can remain an active breeding ground for infectious mosquitoes.

Thus, housing materials and open space between these materials greatly influences the potential number of malaria cases. Locally available materials and building methods such as iron and tiled roofs, concrete block and plastered brick walls, closed eaves, screened doors and netted ceilings can greatly reduce the number of mosquitoes indoors as well as create a more sanitary living environment.

CONSTRUIRE LA PRÉVENTION DU PALUDISME presents an opportunity to utilize these existing housing materials and building methods as well as new, innovative architectural or product design solutions to strengthen protection against malaria. ARCHIVE believes that better housing is the key to significantly improving health conditions and lowering disease transmission.

For more information on housing and malaria, please see Resources.

Design Objective:
Our partners on the ground have chosen two different typologies of houses that they believe are reflective of the 24 that will be improved. We have included sections, elevations, plans, and photos of the two typologies in the Resources document but it must be kept in mind that no two houses are alike and due to the informal nature of many of these houses, even the drawings may not be 100% accurate. It is thus essential that the improvements designed are not house-specific, but rather techniques that could be applied to a wide range of houses.

Please submit a design for each of the following two typologies.

1. Housing Typology A
   
   • - 8m x 7m
   • - Represents permanent architecture
   • - Made of cinderblocks mixed with cement
   • - Floors made of a mix of earth, cement, and sand
   • - Double-sloped roof made of corrugated metal
   • - External bathroom + kitchen
   • - Bathroom is a latrine made of brick covered in cement
   • - Kitchen built out of corrugated metal, attached to the side of the house
   • - No running water
   • - Windows consist of a frame, glass, and bars
   • - Door marking the entrance
   • - 2 bedrooms, 1 living room
   • - 4 windows
   See existing floor plans and photos for Housing Typology A in Resources.


2. Housing Typology B
   
   • - 7.30m x 7.30m
   • - Represents traditional architecture
   • - Made of "poto-poto," a local mix of earth, straw and miscellaneous fibers.
   • - Floors made of mud
   • - Double-sloped roof made of corrugated metal
   • - External bathroom + kitchen
   • - Bathroom is a corrugated metal structure
   • - Kitchen built out of corrugated metal, attached to the side of the house
   • - No running water
   • - Windows are simply openings in the wall
   • - Simply an opening in the wall as an entrance
   • - 3 bedrooms, 1 living room
   • - 3 windows
   See existing floor plans and photos for Housing Typology A in Resources.

Issues to Address:

1. Existing Conditions
   For existing conditions info, photos and detailed drawings, please see Resources.
2. Local Resources/Materials
   For local resources and materials info, please see Existing Conditions section of the Resources document.
3. Waste Disposal.

   Currently Yaoundé and the community of Minkoaméyos are unable to adequately process increasing waste generation rates and quantities, creating environmental and health related problems for the area. The waste generated typically includes large amounts of plastics, metals and glass. This open innovation campaign is seeking entries that put forth innovative strategies for incorporating, reusing, or recycling this waste into the renovation design schemes for each housing typology.

   For more information on Waste Disposal issues in Yaoundé, please see Resources.

4. Budget

   The current budget for each renovation is $300 per house. This budget is based on the current housing costs in the area and the local material costs. Please see Resources for detailed budget info.

5. Timeframe

   Designs for each housing typology should be able to undergo complete construction within a timeframe of approximately two months.

Upon completion of the 24 housing retrofits, the winning teams and ARCHIVE will begin work alongside community-based organizations in Cameroon to scale up the project.

Throughout the project, awareness and capacity-building activities will take place with an emphasis on skills training for housing improvements and health workshops on malaria prevention.

Entrants must agree that ARCHIVE reserves the right to reproduce all entries on the competition website. ARCHIVE has the non-exclusive reproduction rights to all entries for advertising, promotion, exhibition, print publication, and Internet purposes related to the competition.

By submitting an entry, a team or individual acknowledges that all work is their own, and does not infringe the intellectual rights of any third party. No entries may breach the copyright, trademark or design right of any party not listed in the entrant's registration. The entrants take responsibility for all intellectual property and copyright.

If selected as a finalist, the winning teams/entrants must be able to first develop their design and then provide construction documents for implementation. The construction documents must be completed by November 11th, 2012.