Annual International Architecture Competition

MICROHOME

Small living, huge impact! Edition #6

Results

Foreword

Competition organisers

MICROHOME is the sixth edition of an annual architecture competition launched as part of Buildner’s Small-Scale Architecture series, and in partnership with ARCHHIVE BOOKS publications. 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.

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: 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 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; Todd Saunders, founder of Saunders Architecture located in Bergen, Norway; Patrik Schumacher, company director at Zaha Hadid Architects; and Lei Zheng, associate at Zaha Hadid Architects.

Buildner and its jury panel congratulate the winners and thank each of the participating teams for submitting proposals.

1st Prize Winner +
Buildner Student Award

Project name

Building Bridges

Authors

Malte Terboven

Luca Ligotti

Luisa Herzog

Lukas Kunze

University

The trier university of applied sciences, hochschule trier

+172 points Buildner University Rankings!

Germany

Why do you enter architecture
competitions?

Our group enjoys working on interesting projects and developing new ideas together. In our opinion, participating in architectural competitions provides an invaluable platform for anyone seeking to push their creative boundaries and showcase their skills in a competitive environment. It offers an opportunity to compete with individuals from around the world and draw inspiration from their achievements. In architectural competitions, being good is not sufficient; one must exert maximum effort to succeed. Competitions stimulate individuals to think outside the box and experiment with new approaches.

Read full interview

Jury feedback summary

Building Bridges is a MICROHOME planned for construction along a refugee migration route. ‘Bridges’ of connected cabins are created over time as multiple homes are built adjacent to one another. The project is aspirational in its ambition to function as a means for community building, in a space that is environmentally harsh, culturally mixed and transient. The proposed construction is a modular system of recycled materials fully transportable in a single truck.

Francesca Perani / Buildner guest jury founder of Francesca Perani Enterprise Italy

The design encompasses not only a multi-module self-sufficiency system tailored to assist vulnerable residents in need of evacuation routes but also establishes an architectural framework where mutual assistance plays a pivotal role in rebuilding new lives.

Gavin Hale-Brown / Buildner guest jury Principal of London-based Henley Hale-Brown United Kingdom

An interesting concept, though lacking detail, it would need to be more fully worked through to meet the brief requirements. It would be very difficult to implement this single solution in multiple locations across the globe.

Anne Cecilie Haug / Buildner guest jury Senior Architect, Snøhetta Norway

The project shows flexibility when it comes to site adaption and the number of units, and it represents a solution to a very difficult task. The use of waste materials to build it could also solve other challenges. The focus on safe outdoor spaces and compact living, vivid renderings and explanatory graphics stood out.

Buildner's architectural communication techniques review

Have a presentation for us to review? Order your review here!

9/10
Linework
10/10
Quality of drawings
10/10
Balance of color
9/10
Layout
9/10
Hierarchy
8/10
Annotation
8/10
Text
10/10
Clarity of story
10/10
Clarity of diagrams
10/10
Quality of overall presentation

Buildner's commentary and recommendations

The project makes use of vivid photographic renderings alongside simple diagrams and line drawings. Its ability to clearly and immediately communicate design intent is applauded. Its capacity on a single sheet to include both a global mapping as well as a carbon assessment for incorporated materials elevates the project beyond a simple conceptual scheme to a relevant technical proposal. It is recommended from a graphic perspective that the author make use of more varied line weights in the drawings and diagrams, however. As submitted the drawings do not have much visual variation and therefore lack hierarchy and lose force in their ability to convey information. In fact, many of the lines are so light that some of the information becomes lost on the white background of the presentation.