Design a Low-Cost Flood-Resistant Housing Prototype for Lagos Waterfront Communities

Over 70% of Lagos State sits less than two metres above sea level. Communities like Makoko, Ijora Badia, and Ajegunle flood regularly, sometimes for weeks at a time. Most structures in these areas were built informally, with no engineering input, using materials that degrade rapidly when wet. The result is repeated displacement, property loss, and serious health risk. The problem is not simply poverty. It is the absence of a housing typology designed for this specific condition. Conventional Nigerian building practice treats flooding as an exceptional event rather than a baseline design constraint. Nobody has produced an accessible, replicable model that a self-builder in Makoko could actually follow. Your task is to design a single-room or two-room residential unit suitable for waterfront construction in Lagos. The design must account for seasonal flooding, use locally available materials, and keep total build cost under 1.5 million naira. Submit a design package including: floor plan and elevation drawings, annotated materials list with approximate costs, a short written rationale (no more than 600 words) explaining your design decisions, and at least one rendered or hand-drawn 3D view. Strong work will show that you understand the real constraints: what materials are available in Lagos markets, how self-builders actually work, and what flood depths these communities typically experience. A design that looks good on paper but ignores local supply chains or requires specialist labour will not score well. The best submissions will be buildable by a local contractor without special equipment.