'House of Dreams' wins UIA 2030 Award and more international prizes

We are excited to announce that 'House of Dreams' won the UIA 2030 Award co-presented by the International Union of Architects (UIA) and UN-Habitat. 

House of Dreams was winner of the UIA 2030's Sustainable Development Goal #11 category. It was recognised for its 'collaborative effort between architect and local community extending through design and construction, in the revitalisation of a historical and cultural site.'

The House of Dreams is conducted by Insitu Project, a research platform co-led by Mr Peter Hasdell, Associate Dean of PolyU Design and Mr Kuo Jze Yi of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning in Shenzhen U. The revitalised cave settlement in Zhoushan village in Henan Province, completed in 2020, was co-designed and implemented by Insitu Project together with Liang Jun, the Zhoushan Community Group and Dr Ku Hok Bun from APSS of PolyU.  

The 3-year project involved participatory design and construction, social design, and design led social innovation through the alignment of social initiatives with the architectural revitalization of the cave area. The project used a circular material economy approach and was constructed by villagers from recycled construction and household waste. Fostering a bottom-up self-built approach enabled the community to reduce construction costs, increase skills and community pride, at the same time enabling a circular material economy which cleaned up the village as a result. The outcome is uniquely composed of thousands of details, stories and collective memories.   

The UIA 2030 Award is another prestigious international award received by the project in addition to other five honours within a year. Other awards include the Human City Design Award, Winner and People’s Choice awards under the Social Good category of Azure Awards 2022, Gold Medal in the Taipei International Design Award 2021, the Architecture MasterPrize (AMP) award in 2021 and a Bronze in the Design Educates Awards 2022. The project was also shortlisted for a Dezeen award, and an Architecture in Development 2021 award.