Each year the Building and Social Housing Foundation selects twelve finalist projects for their World Habitat Awards. UVa's ecoMOD Project has been selected as a finalist this year.

Two awards are given annually to projects from the global North as well as the South that provide practical and innovative solutions to current housing needs and problems. An award of £10,000 is presented to each of the two winners at the annual United Nations global celebration of World Habitat Day, usually held in October.

ecoMOD is a design/research/evaluate project directed by Assistant Professor of architecture John Quale and Professor of engineering P. Paxton Marshall is the engineering director.

"The recognition of ecoMOD as a finalist in the World Habitat Awards Program is terrific news and demonstrates the value of design in addressing some of the urgent matters of our time. I am proud of the work of the John Quale, Paxton Marshall and their students in creating such a successful and well conceived program," said architecture dean Karen Van Lengen.

The primary goal of ecoMOD is to "create a series of ecological, modular and affordable house prototypes." To date, ecoMOD has built three modular homes with plans for a fourth underway.

"This recognition is meaningful for the ecoMOD project because the emphasis of the World Habitat Award program is on visionary yet realistic affordable housing strategies that have an emphasis on sustainability," Quale said. "Its nice to be included in a small select group of initiatives from around the world. Its a real testament of the efforts of the students, faculty, outside professionals and community members that have had a hand in our applied research project."

Engineering director Paxton Marshall was also pleased by the international accolade, "We are delighted that our students are getting recognition for their commitment to developing sustainable and affordable housing options. Their efforts have demonstrated the capability of cutting home energy use in half without sacrificing livability or affordability.”

Only four US projects have been winners of the prestigious international competition since the awards began in 1986. The announcement of this year's winners is expected in early 2009.