SCHOLARSHIPS
Master in Urban Vision and Architectural Design
UNDER PRESSURE: NEW HOUSING MODELS
APPLY NOW
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: March 13th, 2026
COURSE START: Sept 7th or Nov 2nd, 2026
SCHOLARSHIPS AMOUNT
• From 5.000€ to 8.000€ of the total tuition fee both for the Academic Master's Programme and the Dual Award Master's Programme.
INTRO
The current housing crisis has become an urgent challenge demanding immediate attention. Since the 2008 financial collapse, housing affordability has grown globally, compounded by short-term rentals and speculative real estate practices. These forces push residents from city centers, while the number of vacant office, industrial, and administrative buildings continues to rise. The pandemic has accelerated shifts in work habits, decentralising offices and increasing demand for flexible living spaces.
Meanwhile, evolving family structures reshape household needs. Housing typology must adapt with hybrid solutions integrating housing into vibrant urban realms, as seen in Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue’s Mercat de Sant Antoni in Barcelona, Muller Sigrist’s Kalkebreite in Zurich and OMA’s Timmerhuis in Rott erdam, where housing blends with public, residential, and working functions. The Domus Academy Project Competition invites you to envision an alternative: reimagine an existing structure as a living-working space that fosters an environmentally and socially responsible urban commons.
BRIEF
Identify a plot in a central area of the city with an abandoned or underused structure where you will graft a collective housing project. Introducing a new housing typology into an existing context raises many interesting considerations. Start by analysing the urban realm, focusing on the connection of the plot with the existing urban flows and the buildings that surround it.
Based on these urban and functional considerations, decide how to graft your proposal into the existing built context: by addition, adding a new volume to the existing structure; by subtraction, replacing volumes with your proposal; or by adaptation, working within the existing structure.
This could lead to a hybrid urban solution, where different uses interact and complement one another. Your housing proposal should feature at least one innovative typology that responds to new family models or the evolving relationship between living and working. Additionally, consider how the new housing schemes you propose will affect the common spaces of the building, both interior and open spaces, and how they contribute to the public realm.
APPLY NOW When you submit your project you will receive an immediate confirmation email that your submission was received. If you do not receive a confirmation, let us know at: competitions@domusacademy.itRequired materials
ADDITIONAL FOR DUAL AWARD MASTER
- 2 Reference Letters
- IELTS 5.5 in all parts or recognized equivalent certificate to be submitted within 3 months before the course start date. (not mandatory)