Chiara and Clare worked with colleague Ellie Burroughs from Aitken Turnbull Architects on the design competition which was created to drive innovation in the provision of affordable, efficient and healthy green homes for all and tackle the need for scalable, sustainable and durable solutions that help to address the housing shortage.

The three created an innovative and transformational design that explores a vision for housing of the future. This scheme seeks to address how we can make a generation driven by convenience live more sustainably. Their proposal aimed to integrate the benefits of shared economies through utilising community assets on a macro and micro scale, which in turn, facilitates individuals to be independent whilst being supported by a collective neighbourhood.

Chiara and Clare said: “We established the ‘Imagine If…’ research collective with colleagues Ellie and Eilidh, with the aim of opening a dialogue with the public on more sustainable housing marketing offerings.

“The entirety of the design process took place remotely during the first Covid lockdown and whilst it can often feel hard to work collaboratively in a socially distanced world, this experience really highlighted what can be achieved when you have shared passion and drive. The three of us had countless video calls and phone calls throughout the design process, making it a challenging but rewarding process. It is a great honour to have had our findings on how shared living could help us live more sustainably recognised with this award.”

The designs had to take a number of factors into account including; creating comfortable, healthy internal environments in homes, helping to respond to concerns on climate change in home design and building and ensuring quality and affordability.

Studio LBA managing director Lynsey Bell Manson added: “We have always known our team was a group of dedicated, innovative and driven individuals, but to have that recognised by an organisation like the RSA is just fantastic. I know the amount of work that went into this submission and I’m so happy for Chiara and Clare to see it paying off.”

Their work can be viewed on the RSA digital viewing gallery here.