Foreword

MICROHOME/ Edition 3 (2021) is the third edition of an annual architecture competition launched as part of Bee Breeders Competition Organisers’ Small-Scale Architecture 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 Bee Breeders’ 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 25 m². 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 an international jury that included: Brian Gaudio, CEO of the Pittsburgh-based Module Housing; Anne Cecilie Haug, the director of staffing, senior architect, and member of the research and innovation team at Snøhetta; Thomas Heyer, lead designer at Cover Technologies; Sheri Koones, author; Francesca Perani, founder of Bergamo, Italy-based Francesca Perani Enterprise, and co-founder of activist project RebelArchitette; Carlo Ratti, director of the research initiative MIT Senseable City Lab, and founder of CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati; and Patrik Schumacher, company director at Zaha Hadid Architects.

Bee Breeders and its jury team thank each of the 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.

COMPETITION ORGANISERS
MICROHOME MICROHOME
Enter the next competition edition
MICROHOME

Design a new concept of small-scale home and share a prize fund of 150,000€

Kingspan Edition - Small living, huge impact! ideas COMPETITION

1st Prize Winner +
BB STUDENT AWARD

Project name

CIRCADIAN HOME

Architecture competitions give us a lot of adrenaline. We can face our weaknesses and love sharing our time together, taking up ambitious activities. After the deadline we always have a feeling that we could explore the issue more, which leaves us even more motivated and curious.

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Authors Michalina Linkowska, Wiktoria Ciszak, Karolina Kozłowska
Country Poland
+176 points Buildner University Rankings

2nd Prize Winner

Project name

CLOUD CATCHER

To challenge and develop myself professionally.

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Author Helmuts Nežborts
Country Latvia

3rd Prize Winner

Project name

Switch

We participate in architecture competitions because they offer rich topics and stimulate people's infinite imagination and creativity of architecture.

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Authors Emanuele Cavaglion, Baixue Fang, Xiaoxu Liang
Country Italy

BB GREEN AWARD

Project name

Rooted house

For us, this is an opportunity to challenge ourselves. It is a way to express some ideas you are insecure about; it is easier to let go and create without holding back. This is not always possible in your work or study projects.

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Authors Aleksandra Zhuikova, Sofia Velichanskaia, Elizaveta Gradusova
Country Italy
+76 points Buildner University Rankings

Honorable Mentions

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Project name

the cork hut

Authors Andrea Oriati, Elisa Pizzorno, Arianna Viola
Country Italy
+72 points Buildner University Rankings
Project name

Fair and Square

Project name

Green-Nest house

Company gplusarchitects
Authors Doan Bang Giang, Truong Minh Quan
Country Vietnam
Project name

Rio Piedras

Authors Eric Bell, Diego Bazzani
Country United States
+72 points Buildner University Rankings
Project name

TENKAI

Authors Chizumi Kano, Masayoshi Nozawa
Country United States
Project name

AMALGAM

Authors Ricky Wang, Deidre Zhang, Alem Abulizi, Jack Xie
Country Australia

Shortlisted projects

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Bi(h)ome

Andrea Grassini

Giulio Minuto

Elia Galatolo

Italy

APTA DOMUM

Claudio c. Araya

Chile

Switch

Emanuele Cavaglion

Baixue Fang

Xiaoxu Liang

Italy

Fungi Finlandia

Aapo Wihersaari

Eero Koivu

Savonia University of Applied Sciences

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Finland

Rio Piedras

Eric Bell

Diego Bazzani

Clemson University, South Carolina

+72 points Buildner University Rankings!
United States

Trinity Home

Lana Lončarić

Jakov Jurković

Željko Šreng

Građevinski i Arhitektonski fakultet Osijek

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Croatia

CLOUD CATCHER

Helmuts Nežborts

Latvia

TENKAI

Chizumi Kano

Masayoshi Nozawa

United States

mush • room

Katie Bair

Brad Feitl

Quiad Spicher

Pennsylvania State University

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
United States

Rebirth of Dharavi pottery community

Lixin Liu

Jinghua Li

Zhishan Wu

Junjie Wang

China

Casa Colibri

Jd Scott

Natasha Ribeiro

B.PUBLIC Prefab

United States

Eco.Arc.House

Joanna Korczyńska

Katarzyna Gniazdowska

West Pomeranian University of Technology, Zachodniopomorski Uniwersytet Technologiczny w Szczecinie, ZUT)

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Poland

EMBRACING LIFE

Farnaz Jamehdor

Parisa Babaei

Dorsay Jalili

Hossein Sepandarand

Iran

Amir Moradi

Hadi Daliraqaei

Canada

Fair and Square

Mathieu Mainoldi

ATO - Architectural Thinking Office

France

CROSS WALL HOUSE

Wasseem Al-qaissy

Iraq

Checkmate

Antonella Falzetti

Chiara Iegri

Veronica Strippoli

Giulia Pezzullo

Design on Technologies - Laboratory srl

Italy

Rooted house

Aleksandra Zhuikova

Sofia Velichanskaia

Elizaveta Gradusova

Politecnico di Milano / Polytechnic University of Milan

+76 points Buildner University Rankings!
Italy

HOUSE24

Ziyue Chen

Yi Zhou

Xuqianqian Cao

Technische Universität München , The Technical University of Munich

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Germany

Home to Go

Mikhail Mykhailenko

United States

Hinged

Courtney Kizer

Laurielle Shannon

Ana sofia Solano quesada

Molly Schmidt

United States

Patio House XS

Giulia Orlando

Spain

Green-Nest house

Doan Bang Giang

Truong Minh Quan

gplusarchitects

Vietnam

Eco-Village

Martín Peluffo

Mauricio González

FADU - Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo (Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo UDELAR

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Uruguay

ALPHA+ LIVING

Jiho Oh

Hyunwoo Kim

South Korea

COURTYARD HOUSE

Chang Au siong

Ang Jia qin

Malaysia

Tiny Parasite

Lukas Kienreich

Austria

Functional Minimalist

Jennifer Recinos

Sunny Zhong

United States

AMALGAM

Ricky Wang

Deidre Zhang

Alem Abulizi

Jack Xie

WEN Architects

Australia

the cork hut

Andrea Oriati

Elisa Pizzorno

Arianna Viola

Università di Genova - Dipartimento di Architettura e Design

+72 points Buildner University Rankings!
Italy

the SEED

Shawn Bailey

Canada

sunflower

Sebastian Orner

Christoph Zacharski

Germany

The Occupants of the Urban Void

Ke Yang

United Kingdom

earth-lander

Miguel ángel Ygoa

Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

+72 points Buildner University Rankings!
Spain

All along the water

Constance Jacquemin

Zoé Brouquier

France

Occupy now!

Rik Van de wijgert

Delft University of Thechnology

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Netherlands

CIRCADIAN HOME

Michalina Linkowska

Wiktoria Ciszak

Karolina Kozłowska

Poznań University of Technology

+176 points Buildner University Rankings!
Poland

PARKING HOUSING

Brian Andrews

United States

METAMORPHOUSE

Irene Burroni

Università di architettura

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Italy

Tiny Sea House

Maria fernanda Nava alarcon

Sarai Montiel escandon

Mexico