The Winning Project:
Disrupting the Global Supply chain in Architecture: A hyper-local Approach to the Built Environment.
In this case ‘Disruption’ centres on our reliance on the global supply chain, using construction materials manufactured all over the world. Focusing on Ottawa, but transferable to different localities, Frank sets out a long-term strategy to address this situation.
JURY COMMENT
This thesis recognizes that the challenge we face is enormous and it will take decades to turn things around. The strategies proposed are well reasoned; researching and documenting the materials in existing buildings; mapping the potential for producing bio-based and other materials locally; and implementing design for disassembly in new buildings to develop a materials bank over time.
The transferability of this idea is aptly based on a toolkit of strategies, rather than prescriptive solutions. This flexibility enables locally sourced materials and products to be fit within a modular framework. The timeline is realistic; predicting what our supply chains might look like in 25, 50 and 100 years.
This was a creative, thoughtful and well-presented proposal; an incredibly timely application of systems thinking to a very real problem.