Al-Hila: Open to Donation Pledges

Al-Hila, a competition to rehabilitate a neighbourhood in Sudan, has been interrupted by the ongoing war in Sudan. The competition was formerly sponsored by Sudan Urban Development Think-Tank (SUDTT) and is now in need of a new sponsor or supporters to pledge a donation.

The team, stated, ‘As some of you might know the events taking place during the past months have had a toll on everyone in Sudan, both emotionally and financially. It has resulted in the inability of our former sponsor, SUDTT, to support Al-Hila. We believe that it must continue; as a library for hope, an imagination of a better future and a tool of resilience’.

‘We invite you to support us by pledging a donation, and we hope that through crowd-sourcing, we can raise the budget that would enable us to keep the website and provide compensation for the participants and the jurors, as well as the award…therefore; we are not accepting any payments until we know the level of commitment,’ the team added.

According to the team, as a supporter, your name will be mentioned on the website and you will be fully informed about the finances of the competition.

The competition launched officially in 2021, and was interrupted by the military coup on 25 October 2021, led by General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan. However, the competition continued and results were announced in 2022. The second iteration was launched in 2022, and was later interrupted by the war. SUDTT is the Sudan Urban Development Think-Tank. The first cycle was sponsored by the Sudan Architecture Forum (SAF), the second one by SUDTT until the war started.

‘The intention of the competition is to rehabilitate a neighbourhood in Sudan. However, due to the war, we are now moving into a new direction and thinking about post-conflict reconstructions in addition to documentation of the neighbourhoods before the war, and also rethinking about the new neighbourhoods in the regions were the participants are in now,’ stated the team.

The competition to rehabilitate a neighbourhood in Sudan is an opportunity for generating ideas for developing neighbourhoods around the country, and for designers to show their talent, get exposure and potentially execute their design. 

Participants are invited to choose a neighbourhood of their choice in Sudan from the provided list or by suggesting another neighbourhood. This could be a place they think is in much need of the intervention, a space they frequent a lot or that inspires them, or even a neighbourhood in which they live in. The boundaries for the neighbourhood should not be more than 10 blocks.

Participants are encouraged to be bold, daring and spearheading creative thinking in how they approach the brief. The design should consider the multiple users of the public spaces, urban fixtures, waste management, safety, environment, rainy season, and the feasibility of executing the design. 

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