Reburbia recently announced the winners of a month-long competition to redesign the suburbs. The competition called for design solutions that would address the problems that plague present-day suburbia by envisioning different scenarios for the future. Proposals tackled McMansions, big box stores, strip malls, parking lots and more with design fixes ranging from community agriculture and algae-based biofuels to transplanted tract developments and zeppelin-based transit.

From over 400 international submissions, the judges narrowed the list of the best entries down to 20 finalists, and eventually decided on three prize-winning projects. Additionally, a People’s Choice Award was selected through an online voting process that allowed the general public to elect their favorite entry from a list of 20 finalists.

GRAND PRIZE
The grand prize goes to Frog’s Dream: McMansions Turned into Biofilter Water Treatment Plants, submitted by Calvin Chiu. The design proposed converting abandoned suburban tract homes into wetland areas, using vegetation to filter and clean water in abandoned suburban areas for nearby urban centers. Of this entry, judge Geoff Manaugh, author of BLDGBLOG, said, ‘I love the trans-species approach, the acceptance of certain economically obvious shifts that are occurring already in many a recently constructed suburb, and the hydrological inventiveness. It’s poetic, not practical – and that’s exactly why this project is positive evidence of how we might really rethink suburbia.’

Frog’s Dream: McMansions Turned into Biofilter Water Treatment Plants by Calvin Chiu

SECOND PLACE
The second place prize goes to Entrepreneurbia: Rezoning Suburbia for Self-Sustaining Life, submitted by Urban Nature, F&S Design Studio and Silverlion Design. This entry called for reining in sprawl and making suburban communities more vibrant and walkable by transforming uniformly residential neighborhoods into entrepreneurial incubators by changing zoning laws to support small businesses. Of this entry, judge Jill Fehrenbacher, founder of Inhabitat, said, ‘The idea was one of the few entries in the Reburbia competition that wasn’t really a design proposal at all, but instead a policy proposal — and it was clearly the most practical, cost-effective and energy-efficient proposal submitted to us, and therefore the one which has the biggest potential to effect real change.’

Entrepreneurbia: Rezoning Suburbia for Self-Sustaining Life by Urban Nature/ F&S Design Studio / Silverlion Design

THIRD PLACE
The second runner-up was Big Box Agriculture: A Productive Suburb, submitted by Forrest Fulton. This entry proposed turning big box store parking lots into farms, the interior of the stores into greenhouses and restaurants, and many of the existing structural details into renewable energy generators. Of this entry, judge Eric Corey Freed of OrganicArchitect said, ‘Flipping the economic flow of agriculture and commerce is a much needed step in the right direction. I love that this entry looks at reuse of existing infrastructure, local farming and methods of growth.’

Big Box Agriculture: A Productive Suburb by Forrest Fulton

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
Finally, the People’s Choice Award entry, which was selected through an online voting process that allowed the general public to elect their favorite entry from a list of twenty finalists, was the Urban Sprawl Repair Kit: Repairing the Urban Fabric, submitted by Galina Tahchieva. With a staggering 2,348 votes, the design delineated five building typologies characteristic of suburbia, and corresponding formulas for recreating them in order to promote environmental responsibility and community building. There were a total of 188 comments on Ms. Galina’s proposal, of which the vast majority echoed the thoughts of Walter Chatham who said, ‘This is an incredibly thoughtful and practical solution to poor urban design, but
it also suggests how the many, many ‘tired’ relics of the twentieth century can find intelligent and useful life well into the twenty-first century. This is the greenest idea of all.’

Urban Sprawl Repair Kit: Repairing the Urban Fabric by Galina Tahchieva