ASU alum wins $10,000 grand prize in accessible design competition

Photo of K Brandt Knapp and Jerome W. Haferd

ASU alumna K Brandt Knapp (left) and her colleague Jerome W. Haferd recently won a design competition grand prize for their entry “Side by side: A multiuse, multi-abled commons,” an accessible urban prototype that incorporates communal cooking, gardens and learning.

By Sarah A. McCarty |
November 15, 2019

Herberger Institute alumna K Brandt Knapp won the $10,000 grand prize for the #ZeroThreshold Design Competition, an architecture and urban design initiative that celebrates accessibility as a generator of design.

Brandt:Haferd, a New York-based architecture, design and research practice Knapp has with colleague Jerome W. Haferd, submitted the entry “Side by side: A multiuse, multi-abled commons” for the competition.

The winning entry proposes an accessible urban prototype that incorporates communal cooking, gardens and learning. Designed for intergenerational living, the project transforms an empty double lot and adjacent vacant lot into a mixed-use project to combat social isolation and provide an innovative new accessible living typology.

The #ZeroThreshold competition drew entries from nearly 100 architects and designers from Austria, India, Israel, Italy, Sweden and the United States.

Knapp graduated from ASU with a double major in architecture and photography. After ASU, she received a master’s degree from Yale University School of Architecture. Brandt:Haferd's work includes academic research and a range of built projects.