Introduction

COMPETITION ORGANISERS
MICROHOME

MICROHOME is the fifth edition of an annual architecture competition launched as part of Buildner’s Small-Scale Architecture series. As the affordable housing crisis continues to expand to cities around the globe, and as natural resources dwindle in the face of climate and economic crises, the competition seeks replicable ideas for living small, to better serve our changing world.

MICROHOME has been organised in partnership with ARCHHIVE BOOKS publications, which is excited to announce the first issue of its bi-annual MICROHOME Magazine. This publication carefully curates the most innovative ideas submitted as part of the MICROHOME competition series, alongside built and conceptual small-scale residential works by architecture firms and product manufacturers from around the globe.

 

 

Order MICROHOME Magazine Issue 01 here

 


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 site, of any size, anywhere in the world.

Buildner collaborated with an international jury that included: Thomas Christoffersen, a partner at BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group; Sevince Bayrak, an architect, writer and co-founder of SO?, an Istanbul-based studio working on architecture and urbanism; Sarah Broadstock is an architect at London-based Studio Bark; Anne Cecilie Haug, the director of staffing, senior architect, and member of the research and innovation team at Snøhetta; Gavin Hale-Brown, Principal of London-based Henley Hale-Brown, which recently received the prestigious Neave Brown Award for social housing; Norihisa Kawashima, founder and principal of Nori Architects in Japan; Francesca Perani, founder of Bergamo, Italy-based Francesca Perani Enterprise, and co-founder of activist project RebelArchitette; and Patrik Schumacher, company director at Zaha Hadid Architects.

Buildner and its jury team thank each of the designers who took part in this competition.

We sincerely thank our jury panel
for their time and expertise

Patrik Schumacher

Director of Zaha Hadid Architects

UK

Thomas Christoffersen

BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group

Denmark

Anne Cecilie Haug

Senior Architect, Snøhetta

Norway

Norihisa Kawashima

Founder and Principal of Nori Architects

Japan

Francesca Perani

Francesca Perani Enterprise

Italy

Sevince Bayrak

SO?

Turkey

Sarah Broadstock

Architect at Studio Bark

United Kingdom

Pilar Cano-Lasso

Ignacio de la Vega, Madrid-based delavegacanolasso

Spain

Gavin Hale-Brown

Principal of London-based Henley Hale-Brown

United Kingdom

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

Micro Colony

We can think out of the box and try different kinds of concepts and new experiments. Thinking conceptually, applying new ideas and developing sketches into actual buildings and concepts – in some small measure, it is a feeling of the divine, because you are allowing something that was not there to be created. It appears later in its context, providing meaning and experience.

Read full interview
Company
Authors
Misak Terzibasiyan
Amir Feizinezhadgheshlagh
Thimo Derks
Country
Netherlands
  • 6/10 Linework
  • 7/10 Quality of drawings
  • 9/10 Balance of color
  • 8/10 Layout
  • 8/10 Hierarchy
  • 8/10 Annotation
  • 7/10 Text
  • 10/10 Clarity of story
  • 8/10 Clarity of diagrams
  • 9/10 Quality of overall presentation

2nd Prize Winner

Project name

Degradable dwelling

Participating in architecture competitions allows me to push my creativity and grants me the freedom of experimenting with innovative solutions without many restrictions.

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Author
Lionel Giordano
Country
United Kingdom
  • 10/10 Linework
  • 10/10 Quality of drawings
  • 9/10 Balance of color
  • 9/10 Layout
  • 8/10 Hierarchy
  • 10/10 Annotation
  • 7/10 Text
  • 8/10 Clarity of story
  • 10/10 Clarity of diagrams
  • 9/10 Quality of overall presentation

3rd Prize Winner +
BUILDNER STUDENT AWARD

Project name

Grounded House

We like to challenge ourselves, work on something together and learn new skills and architecture competitions are a great way to do that. We also want to do more projects than we have on our studies and we have the freedom to do whatever project we want. Through team work we learn how to communicate and discover what we need in order to work our best. We also like to add our voices to a discussion and show solutions that bring something new to the table.

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Authors
Aleksandra Musiał
Alicja Adela Jarochowska
Country
Poland
+122 points Buildner University Rankings
  • 9/10 Linework
  • 10/10 Quality of drawings
  • 9/10 Balance of color
  • 9/10 Layout
  • 8/10 Hierarchy
  • 8/10 Annotation
  • 7/10 Text
  • 9/10 Clarity of story
  • 8/10 Clarity of diagrams
  • 9/10 Quality of overall presentation

BUILDNER SUSTAINABILITY AWARD

Project name

A pallet size house

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.

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Authors
Eloy Bahamondes
Lucas Vásquez
Johann Grünenwald
Country
Chile

Honorable Mentions

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

Konj

Authors
Nasim Mollazadeh Sorkhabi
Sara Vejdan
Arezou Fallah
Nikki Hadad
Country
Canada
Project name

3 Scenes of Home

Author
Han Kuo
Country
Taiwan
Project name

AGAR

Authors
Merve Uçan
Berat Can Öztan
Country
Germany
Project name

Student Housing Module

Authors
Amaury Hernández Ochoa
Anabel Morales Villar
Javier Alejandro Cuadra Aruca
Mariangel Pérez Acosta
Country
Cuba
Project name

MICASA

Author
Romana Dariana Benea
Country
Romania
Project name

Brew Together Cafe House

Shortlisted projects

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Sliding Puzzle House

Jihoon Kim
United States

Hearthome

Gregory Campbell
Canada

Garden House

Blake Hageman
United States

Gobi Hut

Qiu Mengbai
Wu Yue
Deng Junyue
Xia Xue
China

be-slow-home

Aron Biro

bim.GROUP Kft

Hungary

Reconfigure :II: Reconvene

Akshat Goyal
Ethan Pulvermacher
Moises Enciso

Illinois Institute of Technology

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
United States

SAMPAN HOME

烽 叶
家卓 代
钎 黄
馥洁 魏

Wuhan University of Technology

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
China

AGAR

Merve Uçan
Berat Can Öztan
Germany

"Compact 5²"

Inch Architects
Belarus

Grounded House

Aleksandra Musiał
Alicja Adela Jarochowska

Warsaw University of Technology , Politechnika Warszawska

+122 points Buildner University Rankings!
Poland

FLIPBLOCK

Yiying Tang
Yue Lu
Shijia Liu
United States

Degradable dwelling

Lionel Giordano
United Kingdom

The responsible cabin

Nikolaj Nielsen
Marie Louise Kristiansen
Jonas Posselt
Denmark

[Re]build

Ewelina Rybus
Poland

Compact nature living

Nina Novakovic
Tamara Milošević
Serbia

Revolving & Composite

Ang Li
Bo Shang
Haochen Jia
Chengyu Wu

BJ ARCHITECTS INTERNATIONAL

Australia

MULTIFUNCTIONAL FURNITURE

Monika Głowala
Poland

Brew Together Cafe House

Chuyu Zhang
China

A pallet size house

Eloy Bahamondes
Lucas Vásquez
Johann Grünenwald

B+V Arquitectos

Chile

MICASA

Romana Dariana Benea
Romania

BOX out OF the BOX

Gabriel-andrei Alexoiu
Cristiana Comanici
Bianca Paun

CONIC DESIGN STUDIO SRL

Romania

circular living

Alicia Davis
Maximilian Hauss
Matthias Hauss
Simon Pscherer
Germany

Micro Colony

Misak Terzibasiyan
Amir Feizinezhadgheshlagh
Thimo Derks

UArchitects

Netherlands

Micro-EcoHome

Alistair Lillystone
United Kingdom

Global Microhome

Abdel rahman Bitar
Ola Bitar
Anas Bitar

Bitar Consultants, Architects, Engineers & Project Managers

Jordan

ANYWHERE

Cristina Bao ye
Spain

RESILIENT HOUSE

Laura Suvieri
Andrea Tumiati

University of Perugia (Rettorato Università degli Studi di Perugia)

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Italy

THE ROVING HOUSE

Mahsa Rezvani
Iran

Konj

Nasim Mollazadeh Sorkhabi
Sara Vejdan
Arezou Fallah
Nikki Hadad
Canada

The Stage

Buza Oleg

Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism - UAUIM

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Romania

Shelter

Tai Lucas

The University of Newcastle, Australia

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Australia

futarigurashi 二人暮らし

Bart Bliek

Delft University of Technology, TU Delft , Technical University Delft

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Netherlands

HEIMAT

Laura Blažytė
Regina Jędrzejek
Deekshita Nair

The University of Manchester

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
United Kingdom

TH-1 Module

David Morrison
United States

THE SHIFT CULTIVATOR'S SAFE SPACE

Peter Kasozi
Uganda

3 Scenes of Home

Han Kuo
Taiwan

PINECONE

Harun Sabljaković
Sabina Filipović
Bosnia

Silvergrass House

Jakub Gasek
Kornelia Nejmańska

Poznan University of Technology , Politechnika Poznańska

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Poland

S.O.S.

Emiliano Renovales
Andrea Martinez
Mexico

Student Housing Module

Amaury Hernández Ochoa
Anabel Morales Villar
Javier Alejandro Cuadra Aruca
Mariangel Pérez Acosta
Cuba