A nationwide contest of smart design for apartments under 90 square meters ended up with "vacant" for the top prize. The contest, launched by China's Construction Ministry, is to encourage the development of small and medium-sized apartments in China, whose housing prices have been rocketing since 2003.

"The result shows less attention was given to small and medium apartments before," said Song Chunhua, chairman of the China Real Estate Association. "There is still plenty of room to explore to make small apartments more comfortable," Song said.

Chinese cities are overwhelmed with large apartments. China would reform the payment system to encourage design for small apartments. Chinese designers are now paid by construction area. If they work on small apartment project, they have to spend more time and energy but get the same payment for one building.

China welcomes foreign designers to participate in small apartment projects, according to the construction ministry. The ministry statistics shows that China has 1,500 foreign-invested design and construction companies. They are engaged in a wide range of projects including Olympic stadiums.

Source:佚名