— About the Competition

Six floors.
One stair.

The PNW DREAMS Design Competition invites Pacific Northwest architecture students to innovate with the single-stair housing typology — catalyzing real-world policy change to address our regional housing crisis.

— The Crisis

The Pacific Northwest is experiencing a severe housing shortage.

For over 50 years, the region has underbuilt for the amount of population increase. Currently, our cities and towns offer few affordable options.

The fastest growing demographic of unhoused people in Oregon are those over the age of 60. Families are being pushed out of our cities and towns to far-flung suburbs, leaving our schools with fewer students. Young people are delaying their lives due to the increased cost of homeownership.

We urgently need urban infill housing that is affordable, livable, cost-effective to build, and accommodates existing and new community members.

— The Typology

The single-stair building — a.k.a. the "point access block."

A common mid-rise multifamily housing typology around the world. Allowed in Seattle for well over 40 years, and in Europe for over 100. Both Oregon and Washington have recently reformed their building codes to allow a single stair to meet egress requirements for taller buildings.

Benefits over the double-loaded corridor:

  • Unlocked development of small lots, promoting dense infill
  • More units on the same square footage lot
  • More family-sized units within a smaller footprint
  • Greater natural light and cross-ventilation
  • Reduced construction cost and circulation materials
— Design Prompt

Design a single-stair multifamily residential building.

Up to 6 stories and 75 feet. A maximum of 4 units per floor per stair. Teams should aim to maximize the number of housing units while meeting the other criteria.

Designs are sited within one of four 50′ × 100′ lots in Portland's Inner Eastside — a range of typical development opportunities across low-density single-family, medium-density multifamily, and medium-scale commercial mixed-use neighborhoods.

Read the full brief ▸

— Site Options
Site 1 · 3215 NE 16th Ave
Site 2 · 315–317 NE 28th Ave
Site 3 · 40th & SE Belmont St
Site 4 · 3120 SE 53rd Ave
Portland, OR · Inner Eastside
— Guiding Questions

Five lenses.

— Scoring

Six criteria, weighted equally.

01
Conceptual Clarity & Design
Strength of architectural parti; coherent relationship between concept, form, and program.
02
Life Safety & Code
Clear, defensible life-safety approach; innovation within (or pushing) current building codes.
03
Unit Design & Livability
Quality of daylighting and natural ventilation; flexibility of unit types; acoustic + visual privacy.
04
Shared Space & Community
Activation of community spaces, stair landings, courtyards, and lobbies.
05
Context & Construction
Response to lot constraints and neighborhood scale; construction logic and cost awareness.
06
Environmental Performance
Passive design, carbon-conscious materials, durability, and climate resilience.
— Prizes

Three tiers.

1st
$1,500 — One team
2nd
$1,000 — Two teams
3rd
$500 — Three teams

Winners were notified by May 30, 2026. Join us to celebrate them at the awards ceremony.

— Award Ceremony

Thursday, May 28th · 5:30 PM → 8:00 PM
J.K. Gill Building · 408 SW 5th Ave., Portland