2025 Kansas City
- Future Unfolding
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NOMA CONFERENCE 2025
Our UBC NOMAS Design Team is incredibly thankful to have had the opportunity to participate in the NOMA 2026 Design Competition. We’d like to congratulate all the participating NOMAS teams and extend our thanks to NOMA, NOMAS National, and NOMA Kansas City, MO, for organising this year’s event!
During this short stint in Kansas City, we met amazing people from other Chapters in the US. Across 5 days, Kansas City, MO, hosted student presentations, industry professionals who presented their own technical speeches, a career fair, and other networking events at the Science Museum, Kauffman Centre for Performing Arts, and Sheraton Hotel.
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Competition Coordinator: Chenyue Yang
Advisors: Jamilla Afandi & Lindsay Nette
Collaborators: Han Byul Seo, Zoe Fedoruk, Tristan Seneviratne, Samantha Lu, Kaylee Charland, Elaine Zhuo, Cindy Chiu, Chloe Chang, and Cassandra Qiu
Project Proposal:
LAMINA reimagines housing as an ecosystem, where programs don’t sit side by side, but interlock and support each other, forming a foundation that’s both vibrant and self-sustaining. Like distinct lamina in stone outcroppings, our project revolves around seven foundational layers: community belonging, green infrastructure, farming, ecology, childcare, culture, and multigenerational living. These intermingle and transform the original transitional nature of the site, into a connected framework where life, work, and ecology coexist…. thus, LAMINA becomes more than a housing project—it’s a catalyst for creativity, economic growth, and resilience, – a foundation for a vibrant future where community members are at the forefront.
Inspired by Missouri’s rolling landscape and diverse community, we centered the design around a walkable green commons that invites connection, supports local business, and irrigates rainwater back into the soil. The homes, oriented to maximize sunlight and natural ventilation, cluster around like branches growing from a shared root, while supporting diverse household structures and economic flexibility.
Adjacent to public infrastructure at the Greyhound station, LAMINA mediates the site edges with public-facing programs to invite public interaction— from grocers, nurseries and other essential stores, to a community centre and orchard pavilion. Pedestrian paths and bike lanes flow through these key anchors, forming a fluid gradient from public to private, where everyday encounters are encouraged.
Layer by layer, LAMINA builds on the complex history of Paseo West and choreographs levels of public and private interactions, activating the sidewalk, and interlocking programs to create a complete community where everyone feels connected. With this, LAMINA lays the foundation on which every person is given an equal opportunity to connect, grow, and thrive with their own unique voices.