Introduction

COMPETITION ORGANISERS
MICROHOME
Official partner
MICROHOME

MICROHOME 2020 is an annual architecture competition organized as part of Buildners’ Small-Scale Architecture competition series, and in partnership with ARCHHIVE BOOKS publications.

As the affordable housing crisis expands to a larger number of cities around the globe, and as natural resources dwindle in the face of climate and economic crises, the competition seeks easy-to-replicate ideas for living small, to better serve our changing world.

Even the smallest projects can contain big ideas. In describing Buildners’ campaign to highlight innovative small-scale design work, UN Studio’s Ben van Berkel writes: “[These] projects sometimes generate ideas which can later be extended to larger scale projects. They not only perform as a testing ground for geometric, material and construction related considerations, but they are also invaluable when testing ideas on a conceptual level.”

The MICROHOME competition series challenges participants to submit designs for an off-grid, modular structure to accommodate a hypothetical young professional couple. The only project requirement is that the total floor does not exceed 25m². Participants are encouraged to rethink spatial organization and incorporate unique aesthetics, new technologies and innovative materials. Projects can be set on any hypothetical site, of any size, anywhere in the world.

Bee Breeders collaborated with a strong international jury, which brought insights from a range of practice types. The jury included: Oke Hauser, Vice President of Architecture and Design at Quarters Co-Living in Berlin and former creative lead and project manager of BMW-MINI Living; Brian Gaudio, CEO of Pittsburgh-based Module Housing; Anne Cecilie Haug, Senior Architect at Snøhetta in Oslo; Carlo Ratti, Director of the MIT SENSEable City Lab and Milan-based Carlo Ratti Associati; and Patrik Schumacher, Director of Zaha Hadid Architects in London.

Bee Breeders and its jury team thank each of the hundreds of designers who submitted ideas to this competition, from cities around the globe. In partnership with ARCHHIVE BOOKS, we look forward to presenting some of these ideas and more in our upcoming digital and print books.

We sincerely thank our jury panel
for their time and expertise

Patrik Schumacher

Director of Zaha Hadid Architects

UK

Carlo Ratti

Director, MIT Senseable City Lab

USA

Oke Hauser

VP of Architecture and Design, QUARTERS Co-Living

Germany

Anne Cecilie Haug

Senior Architect, Snøhetta

Norway

Brian Gaudio

CEO Module Housing

USA

Enter the next competition edition
MICROHOME

Design a new concept small-scale home and compete for €100,000 prize in the second Kingspan-Buildner competition

Kingspan Edition 2024/2025 ideas COMPETITION

1st Prize Winner

Project name

Horror Vacui

Because it represents an occasion to explore extreme contexts and unique scenarios.

Read full interview
Authors
Giovanni Cavaglion
Pu Wang
Emanuele Cavaglion
Xiaoxu Liang
Country
Italy

2nd Prize Winner

Project name

Bricoleur River-House Initiative

We participate in competitions to seek more opportunities to learn about the world of architecture. We see it as a chance to refine and practice the skills we have and through this find our purpose and identity in the way we think and design.

Read full interview
Authors
Georgia Huang
Andrew Kurniawan
Leonardo Vincent
Country
Australia

3rd Prize Winner +
ARCHHIVE BOOKS Student Award

Project name

Anonymous Watchman

We love to challenge ourselves and to test our ideas in the global context.

Read full interview
Authors
Jinlong Li
Sen Yan
Xibao Ren
Huichao Luo
Country
Australia
+128 points Buildner University Rankings

BB GREEN AWARD

Project name

E-COMMUNITY

We participate in architecture vision competitions because, as young architects, we can develop our skills on an international stage. It is an excellent opportunity to discipline ourselves and push forward our design limits.

Read full interview
Authors
Ali bugra Cebeci
Oguz kemal Basar
Country
Italy

Honorable Mentions

Show Honorables Mentions (6 of 6) Hide Honorables Mentions projects
Project name

The High Sierra

Project name

Clochán

Author
Ben Mc quaid
Country
Ireland
Project name

Pivot House

Authors
Ibrahim Muasher
Gergana Popova
Simon Taylor
Country
United Kingdom
Project name

MODULAR HOUSING UNIT

Project name

Breathing House

Authors
Tommy Nam
Eujean Cheong
Country
United States
Project name

Purifying Home

Authors
Aiste Rakauskaite
Kiana Mousavi
Savanne Van Harrewijen
Country
Netherlands
+72 points Buildner University Rankings

Shortlisted projects

Show Shortlisted projects Hide Shortlisted projects

Horror Vacui

Giovanni Cavaglion
Pu Wang
Emanuele Cavaglion
Xiaoxu Liang
Italy

3D DWELLING

Santiago Muros
Argentina

House

Jovana Dmitrić
Serbia

ADAPT

Pablo Larroulet
Toni Cremades villanueva
Chile

RAVI

Olga Rof enriquez
Spain

MODULAR HOUSING UNIT

Zuzanna Słabik
Poland

Purifying Home

Aiste Rakauskaite
Kiana Mousavi
Savanne Van Harrewijen

Delft University of Technology

+72 points Buildner University Rankings!
Netherlands

urban micro housing

Marianne Machner
Austria

Re-House

Mayank Shekhawat
Canada

ADA HOUSE

Amilcar Perez
Diane Lan
Ariel Arosemena
Panama

BREEZEBLOCK

Anouck Badina
Javier Pose bazarra
France

KV Microcabin

Wes Whittle
Australia

MicroPolis

Esther Sperber
Audrey Chan
Kellen Thayer
United States

The car-park effect: a manifesto on how to reclaim lands lost to the automotive industry

Fatemeh Mahmoudyar
Mahta Aminali
Netherlands

The Voxel: Quarantine Cabin

Michael Salka
Vicente Guallart
Daniel Ibañez
Spain

The High Sierra

Mauricio Bastidas Azotla

Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla

+72 points Buildner University Rankings!
Mexico

E-COMMUNITY

Ali bugra Cebeci
Oguz kemal Basar
Italy

Shift House

Blake Massie
United States

Pivot House

Ibrahim Muasher
Gergana Popova
Simon Taylor
United Kingdom

Clochán

Ben Mc quaid
Ireland

MACROWALL

Eser Koken isleyici
Seckin Dingil
Busra Ates kaya
Zeynep Diken

Ofis 16 Architecture

Turkey

120-DEGREE HOUSE

Jinwoo Kim
United States

THE HOUSING CO-OPERATIVE

Ma. shena paz Monfero
Kayla alyssa Guino
Nelson aldrich Silva
Stephen Limin
Philippines

Anonymous Watchman

Jinlong Li
Sen Yan
Xibao Ren
Huichao Luo

University of New South Wales

+128 points Buildner University Rankings!
Australia

Needle Suburbia

Florencia Mischelejis
Santiago carlos Peña fiorda
Valeria Ospital greslebin
Agustin Llobera
Argentina

CABIN:ET

Ronan Atkins
Ireland

Inner Peace

Yinsong Bai
Xingjie Lyu
Fanqing Meng
China

House B

Michael Hoover
Abigail Peters
United States

ASSEMBLING THE ARCTIC

Evan Sparkman
Colin Frazier
United States

Dharavi Dwellers

Hannah Holmen
Dandika Thanos
Czech Republic

TURNING TINY

Maggie Cusdin
Adriano Zarosinski
Stuart Yeap

Plans in Motion

Australia

Shelves House

José miguel Marques
Portugal

Bricoleur River-House Initiative

Georgia Huang
Andrew Kurniawan
Leonardo Vincent
Australia

Breathing House

Tommy Nam
Eujean Cheong
United States

DU·MONO

Elaine Salufrania
Alfred theodore Bandojo
Philippines

CACATOO LODGE

Djordje Radovic
Luka Papan
Montenegro

Contemporary types of Diao Jiao Lou

Jinwei Yang
Ziyao He
China

D[RAIN]

Stephanie Ng
Jamie Wong
Joanna Allida
Nancy Luo
Canada

MISSION POSSIBLE

Sebastian Krawczyk
Szymon Chrzanowski

Politechnika Wrocławska

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Poland

Living up

Helmuts Nežborts
Latvia