The Living Delta: A Flood-Resilient Community Hub

Premise
The escalating impacts of climate change, particularly rising sea levels and intensified precipitation events, are rendering deltaic and coastal regions increasingly vulnerable to severe and frequent flooding. These dynamic environments, often cradling dense populations and rich ecosystems, face an urgent imperative to reimagine their relationship with water. Traditional defensive infrastructures are proving insufficient, demanding innovative architectural paradigms that foster resilience and coexistence. This competition recognizes the critical need to transition from resisting water to strategically living with it, transforming threats into opportunities for integrated community development and ecological harmony, creating spaces that truly embody "The Living Delta."

Objective
The core objective is to design a visionary multi-purpose community center that seamlessly integrates as a piece of vital flood-resilient infrastructure, serving as a beacon of adaptability for communities facing climate challenges. Participants are tasked with exploring cutting-edge architectural strategies, including but not limited to amphibious foundations, elevated platforms, and the intelligent application of water-adaptive and sustainable materials. The design must demonstrate exceptional functionality during both dry and flood conditions, providing essential services, fostering social cohesion, and ensuring continuous accessibility. The ambition is to craft architecture that not only withstands but genuinely thrives amidst environmental flux, offering a replicable model for vulnerable regions worldwide.

Site
Participants are invited to select a hypothetical site or a real-world location within a deltaic or coastal region critically prone to recurrent flooding, such as a river delta, estuary, or low-lying coastal plain. The chosen site should present clear challenges related to water inundation, fluctuating water levels, and potentially soft, alluvial soils, while also possessing existing community dynamics to be integrated. Although specific dimensions are flexible to encourage diverse solutions, the proposed plot for the intervention should ideally range between 2,000 sqm and 10,000 sqm. This generous scope allows for a comprehensive multi-functional complex that responsibly addresses both architectural demands and ecological integration.

Constraints
The proposed design must adhere to several crucial constraints to ensure its viability and impact. Functionally, the community hub should accommodate diverse activities, including flexible gathering spaces, educational workshops, administrative offices, recreational areas, and crucially, serve as an emergency shelter during flood events, complete with provisions for temporary occupancy, storage, power, and sanitation. Structural integrity and material selection are paramount, demanding robust, water-resistant, and low-maintenance solutions, ideally sourced locally and sustainably. The design must demonstrate clear strategies for adapting to varying water levels, ensuring accessibility for all users during all conditions, and integrating with the existing ecological fabric to minimize environmental footprint and enhance biodiversity.

Dates and Fees
The registration fee for participation in "The Living Delta: A Flood-Resilient Community Hub" competition is set at 29 units. This fee contributes to the administrative costs associated with organizing the competition, developing comprehensive briefing materials, and facilitating the judging process. The competition timeline is structured to allow ample time for innovative design development and meticulous submission preparation. The final deadline for registration is January 25, 2026. All final design proposals and supporting documentation must be uploaded through the official competition portal by February 25, 2026, at 23:59 GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). Participants are strongly advised to adhere strictly to all stipulated deadlines to ensure their proposals are considered for evaluation.

Submission Requirements

1. 1 x A1 Sheet: Explaining the value proposition or design (each PDF at least 150dpi, max 20 MB).
2. Optional 1–2 Minute Video: Explaining your design/concept.
3. Team Participation: Teams of 1–3 individuals allowed. Multiple registrations permitted using different email IDs and phone numbers.
4. File Naming: Final PDF must be named "team-.pdf". Final video must be named "team- | Seek Fanatic Competition #seekfanatic".
5. Hosting Requirements: PDFs must be shared via Google Drive/Dropbox/OneDrive with "Public Access" enabled. Videos should be uploaded as "Unlisted" on YouTube.
6. Plagiarism: All content must be original, except collages and human cutouts in renders.
7. Anonymity: No identifying information of participants or their region in submissions.
8. Logo Requirement: Include the Seek Fanatic logo at the end of the video for 3 seconds. Download logo.
9. Registration: Must be done on seekfanatic.com.
10. Team Number: Matches your order number after paying the registration fee.

Note: Non-compliance with any of the above may result in disqualification.

---

Prizes & Grants

• Winner x 1 & Runners-Up x 4: Online Publication + Social Media Post + Certificate (shareable link forever)
• Participation Certificates: For all teams (shareable link forever)

---