SIMON BLENCOWE AWARDED RUNNER-UP IN PREFAB DESIGN COMPETITION
We are delighted to announce that Pynenburg & Collins Architects in collaboration with Welhaus, has been awarded runner-up (highly recommended) in the 2016 PrefabNZ UniPod Design competition.
The UniPod is an open-source, universally accessible bathroom pod designed specifically for multi-unit residential applications, such as social housing, retirement villages and apartment buildings.
“We are pleased that judges recognised the way architect Simon Blencowe from Pynenburg & Collins Architects incorporated Lifemark accessibility with design features and New Zealand timber surfaces.”
The UniPod provides an exciting glimpse into the future of medium-density housing where kit-set materials and online instructions allow for assembly anywhere in New Zealand. Pre-nailed wall frames and roof trusses started like this, and today these systems are common-place building components for almost all new-build housing. This system takes pre-fabrication to the next level.
The open-source UniPod concept is the brain-child of PrefabNZ, the hub for prebuilt construction in New Zealand. PrefabNZ is working with BRANZ funding to increase uptake of prefabrication through the Levers for Prefab programme.
The Judges chose to award Welhaus' team entry as the design solution "provides a well resolved and thought-out space that allows for a number of different configurations, markets and aesthetic treatments. In paying attention to the arrangement and spatial dimensions of the internal space, a highly functional and accessible bathroom space has been created out of a very small area." (Daiman Otto, PrefabNZ Board Chair).
Dan Tremewan of Welhaus' runner-up team says "We'd like to thank PrefabNZ and future homeowners who will benefit from the efficiency gains from increased offsite manufacturing that this competition fosters. We are pleased that judges recognised the way architect Simon Blencowe from Pynenburg & Collins Architects incorporated Lifemark accessibility with design features and New Zealand timber surfaces."
More information on PrefabNZ can be found here.
