Portland, OR - November 14, 2007 - Santa Barbara architect Keith Rivera has won first place in the Portland Courtyard Housing Design Competition. Along with receiving a $5,000.00 prize, the architect's winning design will be featured in a series of related exhibitions and published in a competition monograph intended to serve as a housing idea source book.

The competition, sponsored by the City of Portland, is part of the city's efforts to foster design excellence and the creation of new family-friendly housing in Portland's neighborhoods. Like many communities, Portland , has experienced an exodus of families due to the lack of affordable housing of appropriate size and quality. Participants were invited to submit innovative designs demonstrating how higher-density courtyard housing can serve as an attractive option for families with children, while also being environmentally friendly, affordable, and fitting into existing neighborhoods. The competition attracted over 250 submittals from around the country and the world.

The winning submission achieved a density of some 26 dwelling units per acre with individual, two story, modern-style homes, while still providing traditional single-family amenities such as private yards and garages. The architect's plan proposed six design principles as the basis for family-friendly infill housing: Fee Simple Ownership, Neighborhood Compatibility, Open Space Hierarchy, Security / Privacy, Affordability by Design and Sustainability.
The winning design along with all the competition entries may be viewed on line at www.courtyardhousing.org/entries.html. The City of Portland intends to follow the recent competition with a Design-Build program to provide an opportunity for the implementation of the innovative ideas and principles developed in the initial contest.
For further information, contact Keith Rivera at 805.886.9834.

Related Link: Winners of the Portland Courtyard Housing Design Competition

For more information contact:

Keith Rivera
Acme architecture
339 Woodley ct
Santa Barbara
CA 93105
USA

Phone: 805.886.9834
Email: [email protected]