The City of Atlanta has selected the top six submissions for the domestiCITY design competition, the city announced in a press release.

Launched last August by the Department of City Planning, the domestiCITY initiative sought innovative design ideas to promote affordable housing options throughout Atlanta.

According to the release, the program garnered interest from 189 registrants across 15 countries, and 20 teams submitted final design proposals.

According to the city, domestiCITY asked teams to propose unique, replicable models for designing multi-family affordable housing units. Site-specific requirements were also given, based on the potential renovation of Santa Fe Villas, a supportive housing development in Southwest Atlanta.

On January 5, an independent panel comprised of design leaders, affordable housing experts and community representatives ranked the submissions based on their architectural innovation, architectural programming, economic feasibility and project replicability.

In the first stage of the contest, the domestiCITY jury selected six teams that will each receive a $20,000 cash prize. Then, two finalists of the six teams were chosen and will be awarded an additional $30,000 each to further develop their programming, project financials and design plans.

The top two finalists selected are Utile, located in Boston, and Lord Aeck Sargent, located in Atlanta.

Utile’s submission aimed to create a “single occupancy community for a 21st century population,” their project statement said. Their design focused largely on space efficiency and environmental consciousness but also sought to build a strong community.

Lord Aeck Sargent’s design, called “41 Eco Living,” focused on integrating economical, sustainable and environmentally-friendly elements into the design while preserving the historic nature of the site.

The other finalists were Sadyr Khabukhayev (Kazakhstan), David Baker Architects (San Francisco), Siyi He & Yixin Ren (Rhode Island School of Design) and MPN Partners (London/Vietnam).

“The finalists selected are a representation of just how visionary affordable housing should be,” Planning Commissioner Tim Keane said in a press release. “DomestiCITY is the first of many initiatives to find new ways to design and build affordable housing on a broad scale in Atlanta but also across the country and internationally through pioneering designs. Affordable housing is a universal challenge and it’s time that we approach it with beautiful design in mind.”

The second phase of domestiCITY will conclude on February 28, 2018. After the conclusion of the competition, there will be a public exhibition to showcase the recognized design submissions.

For more information on competition results, including images of winning submissions, visit the competition website: domesticity.org