Student design competition launches

The City of Stirling is searching for ambitious primary, secondary and tertiary students to engage in the creation of an innovative and sustainable urban design project as part of Perth Design Week.

The Sustainable Stirling Student Design Competition offers students a chance to develop, model and create a cutting-edge sustainable urban design project for a real-life suburban block. 

The City will partner with The Forever Project and Ecotecture to deliver participant workshops at Stirling Libraries and an eco-apartment site visit to inspire innovative and creative thinking.

While the expected sophistication of the actual scale models will directly relate to the age of the participants across the three categories, each entry will be required to meet as many of the principles of good urban design as possible.

With more than 103,000 private dwellings across the City's 105km2 area including a diverse range of housing types, the competition hopes to foster ideas that will support sustainable urban change. The State Government’s planning framework estimates that approximately 800,000 new dwellings will be needed in Western Australia by 2050 to accommodate the growing population.

In Stirling, roughly 115,000 additional people are projected to move into the City over the next 30 years, requiring 51,000 new homes.

Inspired by recent community surveys that revealed a keen interest in sustainable urban design from City of Stirling residents, the Sustainable Stirling Design Competition will create opportunities for residents of all ages to get involved in creating a sustainable City with a local focus.

Mayor Mark Irwin said the City already encouraged residents to ‘Shape our City’ by engaging with consultations and projects and was now asking students to roll up their sleeves and help create alternative approaches to infill development. 

“The Sustainable Stirling Student Design Competition will invite up to 250 students from primary school, high school and the tertiary sector to build the most sustainable and innovative model they can for a real-life site in the City of Stirling.

“Once their application has been accepted, participants will have just over a month to build their model, which incorporates as many of the principles of good urban design as possible to be eligible to win one of the three age categories.

“Shortlisted models will then be showcased at the City of Stirling’s Administration Centre during Perth Design Week from 14 March – 21 March. A gala awards night will held on Tuesday 19 March to name the winners, as well as the Mayor’s Commendation Medal for Sustainable Design. 

“Whether you’re using matchsticks and pipe cleaners or tertiary-level architecture modelling equipment, it is the ideas behind how we design that will make all the difference.”

Applications for the three categories (primary, high school and tertiary) will close 5.00pm Tuesday 20 February.

Visit www.stirling.wa.gov.au/designcomp for more information and to enter the competition.