Architects, designers, students and the general public are invited to submit designs for small multi-family housing to Cincinnati’s Build Ready competition.
"The goal of this is to provide opportunity for engagement and for new ideas around middle housing, which for this project is two, three, and four family buildings," said Senior City Planner Andrew Halt.
City officials announced the broader Build Ready campaign earlier this year. Eventually the city will finalize pre-approved design plans aimed at making it easier, quicker and cheaper to build this "missing middle" housing.
Competition designs will help craft a future request for proposals (RFP) to solicit full architectural designs for six plans — two each for two-, three-, and four-unit housing.
Build Ready is focused on filling vacant lots, many of which are narrow and more difficult to build on.
"We want creativity in designs, we want creativity in types of construction — so that may be modular or panelized construction," Halt said. "[It's] a great opportunity to push Cincinnati's built environment further into what we could do in middle housing, and really see what the future of housing looks like in Cincinnati."
The final pre-approved designs could be used across all neighborhoods, but some neighborhoods have more vacant lots that could support this type of housing.
| Neighborhood | Vacant lots |
| Avondale | 398 |
| East Price Hill | 311 |
| Northside | 223 |
| West Price Hill | 191 |
| Walnut Hills | 179 |
| Evanston | 140 |
| Westwood | 98 |
| Madisonville | 94 |
| Mount Auburn | 85 |
| Camp Washington | 82 |
The competition brief includes details about different architectural styles throughout the city, but especially in those neighborhoods.
Anyone can enter the competition, not just professionals or experts. Three judge panels each will choose winners:
- Professional panel: people with "real-world experience in the realm of architecture, development, and policy."
- Community stakeholder panel: volunteers such as residents, community council leaders, real estate agents, and nonprofit leaders. This panel will help ensure "new housing fits within the existing look and feel that makes Cincinnati special."
- People's choice panel: online voting from the public.
Each panel will choose three winning designs — one each for two-, three-, and four-units.
There's no monetary prize, but winners will be recognized at an awards event in September and could be featured in a national publication of the Urban Land Institute.
Competition entries that follow the submission requirements can get a bonus five points (out of a possible 100) on the later RFP submission.
The city will host two design competition Q&A sessions:
- Thursday, June 11 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. (virtual)
- Thursday, July 16 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. (virtual)
The deadline to enter is Friday, Aug. 14 at noon.
You can learn more and enter the competition on the city website.
The Build Ready program is funded by a $2 million federal grant.
Part of the funding will be used to build two "demonstration projects" on vacant lots owned by the city or The Port. These would be in residential neighborhoods that are already zoned to allow multi-family housing of up to four units. The units would be income-restricted to renters making between 60% and 80% of the Area Median Income.
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