Twenty-seven-year-olds Kailash Kant and Raja Dawn wore a contented smile yesterday as they stood in front of their housing design at Ravindra Bhavan. A commendation award plaque placed in the backdrop of their design added to their pride.

Their design for the Tehkhand site is one among the eight that got the commendation prize in the DDA housing design competition. The competition is part of the DDA's efforts to encourage innovative solutions to housing in Delhi.

Architects and urban designers were invited to submit designs of the proposed residential development at sites in Vasant Kunj, Tehkhand and Dwaraka. The aim of the competition was to explore innovative futuristic ideas and cost effective technology in housing.

Selected from 119 entries submitted by some of the renowned architect houses in the country, Kailash and Raja's design manifests the youngdesigners' unique conception of present society.

``Development is to create environment. Nowadays, the situation is such that people have been living in housing societies for several years and yet they do not know who lives next door,'' explain the two classmates from University of Roorkee. ``We wanted to create interactive space between people and hence, our design is based on social interaction of the people living in residential colonies''.

While most of their competitors had scores of people involved in marking designs for the housing complexes, Kailash and Raja were a two-man army. From feeling the land for hours under the sun to making computer graphics, landscaping and transport planning, the two managed it all by themselves. Determined, they wanted to breathe fresh ideas into the architecture. Success promised a boost to their careers and it has come through their way.

``I come from Varanasi, a town where people interact with each other and the environment. This is what I found missing in Delhi.So for me, the dream project is just an extension of my proximity to nature,'' says Kailash as he points at the greenery around the design.

The board of assessors comprised eminent architects from the field as well as from autonomous bodies, and senior DDA officers. This included B V Doshi, Kuldip Singh, A K Maitra and P R Mehta. About 119 entries for three sites were received, which were examined by the board of assessors from June 26 to 29.

The entries were particularly examined for their response to the environment already built around the sites. This included principals of site planning and land-use distribution, creation of a desired relationship with built-up and open spaces, creation of hierarchical order in open spaces at various levels and landscaping, vehicular and pedestrian movement within the site and its relationship with external movement.

The assessors did not find any entry which could be considered for the first, second and third prizes. However, the jury recommended eight entries forthe commendation award of Rs one lakh each.