Architecture Competition MICROHOME / Edition #5 Sustainability Award winner – B+V Arquitects

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to the Sustainability Award winners of our "MICROHOME / Edition #5" competition – Eloy Bahamondes, Lucas Vásquez and Johann Grünenwald from Chile!

Sustainability Award winners from Chile

B+V Arquitects was born in 2013 when Eloy Bahamondes and Lucas Vásquez decided to found the office as soon as they graduated from university. Both are architects and professors at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, as well as have a master's degree in sustainable architecture from the Technical University of Berlin.

Brief information about the projects that you/your company have been involved with. For instance, what scale have you focused on/preferred, any significant projects where the company/ individuals have been involved?

As an office, they have achieved some awards and places in different architecture competitions either individually or associated with other offices.

Some examples are: 1st Place Competition "Sustainable Patagonia Social Housing" 2014; 2nd Place Competition "Museum of Memory and Human Rights Region of Bío-Bío" 2016; 1st Place "Modular Systems for Education Competition" 2017; Honorable Mention "New Providencia Municipal Building" 2017 and 1st Place Competition “Human Space Museum” 2022.

Why do you participate in architecture competitions?

Architecture competitions have two sides that make them attractive to us: on one hand, it is a way to democratize architecture by making everyone compete on the same level, and on the other hand, it is a way to go back to designing as it was done in the academy. Somehow, an architecture competition allows proposals to be made in an unprejudiced way. This is similar to what happens when studying at the university, and in the project courses more risky possibilities are considered, which in real life or work are difficult to achieve when there is a client.

What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to decide whether it would be beneficial for them to participate in architecture competitions?

Do it. It allows you to get out of a routine, think outside the box again, and stay current in discipline. If you are trying to start your own company, going to as many contests as you can is the way to go. No one says you will win them all, but little by little you will start to get prizes and the name of the company will start to be around. There is no shortcut to discipline and hard work.