The National Single Stair Architectural Design Competition Official Rules
READ THESE OFFICIAL RULES PRIOR TO REGISTERING FOR THE NATIONAL SINGLE STAIR ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN COMPETITION.
The National Single Stair Architectural Design Competition (“Competition”) is administered and sponsored by Abundant Housing LA Education Fund (“Sponsor”), and the Competition is governed by these Official Rules (“Rules”).
These Rules form a binding Agreement (“Agreement”) between the Sponsor and all individuals who register for the Competition.
The Competition is made possible with the generous support of Livable Communities Initiative, Arnold Ventures, CA YIMBY, East Bay for Everyone, Build Casa, Urbanist Ventures, Housing Action Coalition, Housing Policy Innovations, Codified Life Safety, and Andrew Slocum (private) (collectively, the 'Funders').
1. PARTICIPATION ELIGIBILITY:
The Competition is open to individuals who are 18 years of age or older, worldwide, except for residents of Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, Sudan, Cuba, and the Regions of Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk, and any countries where prohibited by law. Sponsor reserves the right, at any time, to verify eligibility requirements in any manner it deems appropriate. Employees and Directors of the Sponsor and their immediate family members and individuals residing in their same household are not eligible to participate.
2. THE COMPETITION PERIOD:
The Competition begins on or after January 29, 2025 at 12:00:01 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (“PST”) and will conclude by June 29, 2025, at 11:59:59 p.m. PST (“Competition Period”). The official dates of the Competition are subject to change at the discretion of the Sponsor and will be announced no later than one (1) calendar week in advance to all participants. The computer of the Sponsor is the official timekeeping device for the Competition.
3. HOW TO REGISTER:
To register for the Competition, all participants (“Participants”) need to: (1) visit https://www.singlestair.com (“Competition Website”), (2) click on the “Apply Here” registration link to navigate to the Single Stair Design Competition registration form (“Registration Form”), hosted by Jotform Inc., and (3) complete all requested information on the Registration Form. By submitting this Registration Form, the Team and its Participants (“Team”) agree to receive emails from Sponsor related to this Competition. Teams may not register with multiple email addresses nor may Teams use any other device or artifice to register multiple times, or as multiple Teams. Any Team and/or Participant who attempts to register for the same Award Category (as defined below) with multiple email addresses, under multiple identities, or uses any device or artifice to register multiple times will be disqualified and forfeit all prizes won at Sponsor’s discretion. Sponsor is not responsible for any change of email address, mailing address, and/or telephone number of a Participant or for any Participant’s inability to receive notifications pertaining to the Competition, or to register for the Competition. A Participant may join only one Team. Each Team may submit one design (“Design”) for each of the three Award Categories as defined below.
4. THE COMPETITION:
The Competition will consist of three (3) Design Award Categories (“Award Categories”) as detailed in Section 5 of these Rules. A Team may submit no more than one Design for each Award Category.
Designs must be uploaded to the Jotform Inc. Form platform by June 29, 2025.
A panel of qualified individuals selected by the Sponsor based on their experience and/or expertise in the subject matter (“the Jury”) will review the submitted Designs. Officers, directors, members, employees, and agents of the Funders and any of the foregoing persons’ immediate family, are prohibited from participating on the Jury panel in the Competition. Members of the Jury, and their immediate family, are prohibited from participating in the Competition.
All Designs submitted for each Award Category will be reviewed and judged anonymously by the Jury with no marking and/or indication as to which Team submitted any Design. There will be a $10,000 USD prize (“Prize”) for each Award Category. The Team receiving the highest score in each of the three Award Categories, in accordance with the Competition Scoring Criteria described in Section 9, will be awarded a Prize.
5. DESIGN CRITERIA:
Design submissions must meet the following criteria (“Design Criteria”) in order to be considered in the Competition.
Lot Coverage
75% Lot Coverage maximum
Setbacks, Open Space, Unit requirements, FAR
For the purpose of this competition, setbacks, FAR, and open space restrictions have been eliminated. However, note that the projects will be scored on their ability to take advantage of the elimination of the second stair to produce sensitive design solutions that provide usable open space, interior courtyards, family-sized units, passive cross ventilation, natural light, maintain privacy, etc. Building code requirements for windows in bedrooms and living rooms should be followed.
Height
Note that 3-story single-stair buildings are currently allowed by code. This Competition is an invitation to explore the possibilities presented by taller single-stair buildings.
Teams must use the following building code assumptions to govern the maximum building height to 6 stories, and 75 feet (22.86 meters).
Teams do not need to abide by zoning restrictions, transitional height, angular planes, or step down requirements for the building height.
No habitable uses may occur above the 75’ height limit threshold, however ornamental spires or purely aesthetic features may go beyond the 75’ height limit.
Building Code
20 ft. max travel from dwelling unit front door to exit stair door, 125-ft. max travel distance (exit access distance, from farthest corner inside a dwelling unit to the stair door).
A maximum of 4 units per floor, per stair instance (there may be multiple attached or detached buildings with a single stair configuration per parcel).
The net floor area of each floor shall not exceed 4,000 square feet (371.6m^2). Note that Net Floor Area only accounts for habitable space and does not include hallways, stairs, elevators, mechanical rooms, storage rooms, etc.
Interior staircases must be fully enclosed and separated from the hallway/landing; however, open-air exterior staircases are permitted.
Elevators cannot be placed inside an enclosed stairway.
Elevator cabin sizes may utilize North American ASME A17 standards or ISO 8100/EN 81 global technical standards and US, EU, or international cabin size rules.
Parking
There are no parking requirements. Car and bike parking are included at the discretion of the Teams.
Units
Families come in different sizes and with different needs. While there is no prescribed unit mix, single stair buildings may present opportunities for larger percentages of family-sized units and/or novel unit types. Teams are encouraged to explore these possibilities.
Density
Target minimum density is 150 dwelling units/acre.
Award Categories
There will be three (3) Award Categories as listed below. There will be one (1) Prize for each Award Category. A Team may only submit one (1) Design per Award Category. A Team may submit Designs to 1, 2, or 3 Award Categories.
50 x100’ Mid Block lot without Alley Access – “Portland Award”
25 x110’ Mid Block lot without Alley Access – “San Francisco Award”
45 x135’ Mid Block lot with Alley Access – “Austin Award”
If a Design does not meet the Design Criteria listed in this Section 5, the Design will automatically be disqualified from the Competition
6. DESIGN WARRANTIES
By submitting a Design to the Competition you hereby warrant and represent that your Design conforms to the Design requirements set forth herein.
• A Design must not defame, misrepresent, or contain disparaging remarks about Sponsor or its products, or other people, products or companies;
• A Design must not contain trademarks, logos or trade dress owned by others, or advertise or promote any brand or product of any kind, without written permission, or contain any personal identification, such as, personal names, email addresses or street addresses;
• A Design must not contain copyrighted materials owned by others (including, but not limited to photographs, sculptures, paintings and other works of art or images published on or in websites, television, movies or other media without written permission of the owner;
• A Design must not contain materials embodying the names, likenesses, photographs, or other indicia identifying any person, living or dead, other than Participants on the Team submitting the Design, without written permission;
• A Design must not communicate messages or images inconsistent with the positive images and/or goodwill to which Sponsor wishes to associate; and
• A Design must not depict, and cannot itself, be in violation of any law.
BY SUBMITTING A DESIGN PARTICIPANTS AND TEAMS ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THEIR DESIGN MAY BE POSTED ON SPONSOR’S WEBSITE, SPONSOR’S SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES, AND/OR ANY OTHER MEDIUM DEEMED TO FURTHER THE SPONSOR’S MISSION, AT SPONSOR’S SOLE DISCRETION.
7. DESIGN SUBMISSIONS
All Designs will be submitted by 11:59:59 PM PST on June 29, 2025 via the Competition Website https://form.jotform.com/250066321950147.
All Design submissions will be submitted on 1-3 24” x 36” sheets oriented vertically and uploaded as one (1) PDF file which includes a 50-word summary statement placed on one of the submittal sheets. Max file size: 50mb PDF, and 100mb 3D model per site
The project name must appear exactly as noted at the bottom right corner of each sheet.
**IN ADDITION to the Competition Website submission, Teams must also submit a separate PDF to singlestaircomp24@gmail.com containing a short bio of each Participant on their Team, along with a photo of each Participant for publicity purposes. Participants will also submit a form as described in this Section 7. Designs submitted without the accompanying Participant information will not be considered.
8. SPONSOR’S DISCRETION:
Sponsor reserves the right at its absolute and sole discretion to decide whether a Design will be posted to the Sponsor’s Website, or otherwise used by the Sponsor. By submitting a Design, you acknowledge that Sponsor has no obligation to use or post any Design.
Submission of a Design grants Sponsor and its agents a non-exclusive, unlimited, worldwide, perpetual, royalty free license and right to publish, use, copy, display, publicly perform, and create derivative works from the Design, and authorize others to do the same, in any way and in any/all media now known or hereafter discovered, and on the Internet and World Wide Web, without limitation, and without consideration to the Team or Participants, with or without attribution.
The Sponsor reserves the right at its sole discretion to cancel the Competition at any time without cause.
9. SCORING CRITERIA AND WINNER SELECTION:
Scoring: Teams will submit a Design for an Award Category, and it will be reviewed and scored by the Jury. The Jury will evaluate all eligible Designs based on the following criteria (“Scoring Criteria”). Each category will be judged on a scale of 0-10 (10 being a perfect score) and weighted according to the percentages noted next to the categories:
Overall Quality (10%)
Creativity (10%)
Relevance (20%)
Identity (20%)
Does the development offer a variety of unit sizes to serve different populations and accommodate various family sizes?
How will the development be built, who is building it, and is it competitive with existing building forms?
How will the building “fit” into the context of the surrounding neighborhood?
Who is the intended demographic for this development, and who will likely live here?
Sustainability (20%)
Is the building responding to climate change, is it adaptable to changing environmental conditions?
Does the building have ample open or green space? Can one plant a tree in the project? Where do you envision communal space to occur in the building?
Will there be a commercial component of the building that encourages local economic growth?
Mobility (20%)
Does the building facilitate access for pedestrians, cyclists, and public transit users?
Is the building accessible to all ages and abilities, including those with disabilities, and compliant with ADA standards or equivalent regulations?
Sponsor reserves the right to amend the Scoring Criteria at any time. In the event of a tie for the highest score in an Award Category, the Team with the highest score in the first criteria will be selected as the Prize winner (“Winner”). If there is still a tie, the Team with the highest score in the second criteria will be selected as the Winner, and so forth.
The Winner for each of the three Design Award Categories will be notified on July 30th, 2025 (“Winner Announcement”) by singlestaircomp24@gmail.com, and later posted on Sponsor’s website. The Winner Announcement may be rescheduled at the Sponsor’s sole discretion.
10. WAIVER AND RELEASE OF CLAIMS
No waiver of any term, provision, or condition of these Rules by the Sponsor, in any one or more instances, shall be deemed to be, or be construed as a general waiver of any such term, provision or condition of these Rules.
By submitting a Design, each Participant and Team agrees that the Design is gratuitous and made without restriction and will not place Sponsor under any obligation. Sponsor is free to disclose or otherwise disclose the ideas contained in the Design on a non-confidential basis to anyone or otherwise use the ideas without any additional compensation to the Participant and/or Team. Each Participant acknowledges that, by acceptance of the Design, Sponsor does not waive any rights to use similar or related ideas previously known to Sponsor, or developed by its employees, or obtained from sources other than the Participant.
11. PRIZE DETAILS:
Portland Award: One (1) $10,000 USD Prize
San Francisco Award: One (1) $10,000 USD Prize
Austin Award: One (1) $10,000 USD Prize
Prizes are non-transferable, except at the sole discretion of the Sponsor. The Sponsor will distribute each Prize award equally amongst the Participants of that Team who were named during the registration process detailed in Section 3. All Prizes shall be awarded in accordance with United States law and other applicable laws. Any and all fees and taxes incurred in the processing, transfer, or delivery of payment of a Prize to Participants will be the responsibility of the Participants. Should Sponsor be required to make such payments in order to complete delivery of a Prize payment, said payments will be deducted from the total Prize money designated for that particular Team. Prizes may be subject to tax withholding by the Sponsor if a Participant is unable to execute and deliver to the Sponsor IRS Form W-9 or W-8 BEN with an appropriate exemption before any Prize is awarded.
If any Prize notification or Prize is returned as non-deliverable, or if a Team or any of its Participants are found to be ineligible, or not in compliance with these Rules, such Prize will be forfeited by the noncompliant Participant(s) only. The Prize money allocated for the ineligible Participant(s) will be distributed equally amongst the remaining eligible Participants of the winning Team. If all Participants of a winning Team are deemed ineligible, the Team will forfeit their Prize, and the second highest scoring Team in that Award Category will be named the Winner.
Except where legally prohibited, each Participant grants (and agrees to confirm that grant in writing) permission to the Sponsor and those acting under the Sponsor’s authority the right to the use of his/her name, photograph, video recording, likeness, voice, image and biographical information and statements, and the Design for advertising, trade, publicity and promotional purposes without additional compensation, in all media now known or hereafter discovered, worldwide, and on the Internet and World Wide Web, without notice, review or approval.
12. INDEMNIFICATION AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY:
Each Participant agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Sponsor, Funders, and their officers, directors, and employees from and against any liability for any injuries, losses or damages of any kind to persons, including death, or property resulting in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from acceptance, possession, misuse or use of any Prize, or participation in this Competition, or Competition-related activities, or use of a Design.
By submitting a Design, a Team and its Participants warrant and represent that the Design is: (a) the Team’s original work, (b) has not been previously published, (c) has no previous awards, (d) does not infringe upon the copyrights, trademarks, rights of privacy, publicity or other intellectual property, or other rights of any person or entity; (e) that the Team has obtained permission from any person(s) whose name, likeness or voice is used in the Design; and (f) that publication of the Design via various media including Web posting will not infringe on the rights of any third party. Participants agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Sponsor, Funders, and their officers, directors, and employees from any claim to the contrary.
THE TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF SPONSOR FOR ANY CLAIMS, CAUSES OF ACTION, DISPUTES OR DEMANDS ARISING FROM, RELATING TO, OR IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO SPONSOR’S BREACH OF ANY TERM OF THIS AGREEMENT AND/OR SPONSOR’S NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS CONDUCT AND/OR ANY DECISION BY SPONSOR TO DISQUALIFY A TEAM AND/OR TERMINATION OF THIS AGREEMENT, SHALL BE LIMITED TO $1000.
13. PRIVACY NOTICE:
Email addresses, mailing addresses (other than city and state), and phone numbers of Participants provided to the Sponsor will be used for the purpose of contacting Participants about their participation in this Competition and otherwise treated in accordance with Sponsor’s privacy policy. https://abundanthousinglaeducationfund.org/privacy-policy/
Email addresses, phone numbers and any other information provided to Sponsor will not be sold or otherwise provided to any third party. If a Team is selected as a Winner, the names of all Participants from that Team, and their cities, and states of residence may be included in a publicly available list of Winners.
14. GENERAL PROVISIONS:
Neither Sponsor nor its agencies are responsible for not receiving Designs, no matter what the reason even if known in advance, or other errors of any kind whether human, mechanical, electronic or network, incorrect or inaccurate capture of a registration, or the failure to capture any such information. Persons who tamper with any aspect of the Competition, as solely determined by the Sponsor, or who attempt to participate with multiple email addresses or under multiple identities will be disqualified. Any use of robotic, automatic, macro, programmed or like registration methods will void all such registrations, and disqualify any Participant using such methods. Should any portion of the Competition be, in Sponsor’s sole opinion, compromised by virus, worms, bugs, non-authorized human intervention, technical failures, or other causes which, in the sole opinion of the Sponsor, corrupt or impair the administration, security, fairness or proper play, or submission of Proposals, Sponsor reserves the right at its sole discretion to suspend, modify or terminate the Competition. (VOID in states and territories where different local rules apply). In case of dispute, the authorized subscriber of the email or cell phone account used to register for the Competition at the actual time of registration will be deemed to be the Participant and must comply with these Rules.
15. GOVERNING LAW AND ARBITRATION:
Except where prohibited, each participant agrees that any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of or connected with the Competition or any prize awarded shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action. The Competition shall be governed according to the laws of the state of California. Any claims against the Competition and/or Sponsor shall be submitted to binding arbitration heard by a single arbitrator in accordance with the American Arbitration Association (except as modified herein). The parties shall each bear their own costs and attorneys' fees in any arbitration proceeding. Any counterclaim not brought within thirty (30) days after receipt of the arbitration notice shall be barred. The arbitration shall be conducted in-person, in the state of California. Unless otherwise specified herein, the arbitrator may award any relief that he or she deems proper, including but not limited to equitable relief. The award shall be final, binding, and enforceable in any court of competent jurisdiction.
16. WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT AND LIST:
The Designs will be reviewed and scored, and the Winners will be selected by July 30, 2025. The names of the Participants for each Team named as a Winner will be posted to the Competition Website within one month of when the Winners are notified and will remain available for no fewer than 90 days following the announcement of the Winners.
To request a list of the Prize Winners, you can write to the Sponsor at the address listed immediately below within one year of the Winner Announcement.
Abundant Housing LA Education Fund
Attn: National Single Stair Competition Prize Winners List
453 S Spring St. STE 1201
Los Angeles, CA 90013