Cemintel™ invites architects, designers and students from across Australia to create and showcase their innovative design projects in the annual 9 Dots Award.

Now in its fourth year, the Cemintel 9 Dots Award has developed a reputation for showcasing some of the best creative design talent in the industry. This year’s competition offers over $8000 worth of cash prizes as well as industry recognition for the winners.

The competition challenges participants to design an inner city housing development that rethinks the current format of affordable housing in today’s dense urban sprawl. The design should feature  Cemintel’s Creative Product range.

Competition criteria

Participants are required to present a housing development design that features an innovative use of the aesthetic opportunities offered by  Cemintel’s Creative Product Range.

 Cemintel General Manager Drew Spiden explains that the 9 Dots Award is about creating a unique proposal that enhances current residential designs in a fresh and inventive way. The entries should indicate a new direction for modern housing, one that encourages creative, sustainable housing solutions to suit the variety of household and family types living in Australian cities and suburbs.

Cemintel recently ran the 9 Dots ‘invite-only’ challenge as a prelude to the 9 Dots Award with architect firm, RAW Architects taking home the top prize in the competition.

Director of RAW Architects Adam Russell said that the design challenge gave them the chance to test a suite of urban housing ideas via a hypothetical project. Their entry focussed on the design of spaces that encouraged social interaction and community participation. The efficiency and flexibility of the plan and overall building durability were also emphasised to ensure housing affordability. At the material level, the firm developed concepts for a new Cemintel jointing system specifically aimed at architects.

This year’s 9 Dots Award judging panel consists of high profile and award-winning professional Australian architects and designers.

Entries to the competition will be accepted between 27th April and 3rd August 2015.