Will you win the WOAW 2024?
Do you have a clever foray around quality housing for newly formed families? Conceived a foldable temporary residence for seasonal workers? Have you been thinking of marketing a storage furniture prototype that adds value in a compact flat? Have you designed a cohousing model that could be developed in an office building or in a church? Did your spreadsheet demonstrate an innovative affordable housing model? Did you draw a regenerative landscape design for car-free streets or squares? Did you devise a collective composting concept for urban neighbourhoods? Or are you working on an incentive eviction policy for poorly located land and housing? Then you might just have the idea we are looking for. Pitch it before 31.10.24 and stand a chance of winning WOAW, the housing idea award of the province of Antwerp.
The WOAW laureate receives one year of substantive guidance from a sounding board group of housing experts and a start-up budget of EUR 5,000 to further develop the idea into a concrete concept.
Why a WOAW?
Demographic trends such as more diverse family profiles and an ageing population, climate change, scarcity of space and materials, rising property prices, and so on, have a huge impact on how we will live in the future.
With its Housing Policy Paper, the province of Antwerp is already striving for a diverse, affordable, sustainable, circular, energy-efficient and high-quality housing supply geared to the changing housing needs of diverse households. Attention to the quality of the living environment in terms of accessibility of facilities, social cohesion and densification is more central than ever.
While many innovative housing projects are already being realised within this context, which undoubtedly make a difference, the next generation of designers and researchers is also eager to help tackle these complex social challenges. This is why the Province of Antwerp annually gives creative minds the chance to develop and disseminate fresh ideas for living that have not (yet) received sufficient attention from the policy.
Who can participate?
- Final-year higher education students;
- Graduate designers, researchers, entrepreneurs younger than 35.
Pitch your idea!
Tell the Province of Antwerp on maximum 2 A4s why your idea is so innovative and why it is indispensable to tackle today's housing challenges.
In short: how does your innovation make a difference?
Be sure to include:
- the description of the problem
- the description of the idea/project
- a concise roadmap
- possible partners to be involved in the development
- the final product
Involve at least two of the four principles of the provincial housing policy in your idea:
- sustainability and circularity
- resilience and health
- mobility and diversity
- availability and affordability
Want more info on the provincial housing policy and principles? Check out this page.
Evaluation criteria
The jury will take into account three criteria:
- the relevance of the topic
- the added value of the idea
- the quality of the pitch
Follow-up process
During your research, you can turn to a sounding board group of housing experts for tailored advice and guidance. You will report on the progress of your research at regular intervals. After a year, you present the results of your research to a wide audience. The Housing Department undertakes to help put the results on the political agenda.
Previous years' winners
WOAW 2023
In 2023, the WOAW went to bachelor's student Eva O'Connor. In her bachelor's thesis 'cohousing', Eva investigates how an existing industrial building can be transformed into a sustainable and affordable housing collective, because ideally, in today's age, we no longer produce anything extra. In her design for an old garage in Borgerhout, Eva gives the site a circular and sustainable interpretation, with part of the building volume giving way to green roof gardens. It also looks at whether there is room for economic activities. This has a positive impact on both the city and its residents. The design encourages diversity by combining resident groups from different backgrounds. A sharing economy will be used to reduce costs and make more resources accessible to all.
In her research, Eva thoroughly studies the division between public and private spaces. She looks specifically at what other functions can be shared with others. This approach allows you to choose whether or not you want to be part of a group at any time, and creates different types of spaces, ranging from shared spaces to semi-open and semi-private areas to private spaces. The aim is to turn the principles of her research into theoretical models that can serve as a useful guide when repurposing industrial patrimony into collective housing projects.
WOAW 2022: Build to Rebuild
In 2022, 'Build to Rebuild' by designer trio Rune Degryse, Cassandra Van Peer and Pieter-Jan Lerno won the very first edition of WOAW.
Rune, Cassandra and Pieter-Jan's winning idea makes double-height shell spaces flexibly adaptable with standardised, easily (de)assembled elements. This circular and budget-friendly self-build kit lets residents adapt their living space to their changing housing needs, from a double-height loft to a multi-bedroom home.
The designer trio advocates a reappraisal of double ceiling height, both in new builds and conversions, in response to changing housing needs. Flexibility need not be limited in length and width; it can also be in height.
The construction kit can be a flexible tool for architects, do-it-yourselfers, developers, etc. to realise new construction and conversion projects.