Foreword

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.

COMPETITION ORGANISERS
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 +
Buildner Student Award

Project name

Building Bridges

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.

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Authors Malte Terboven, Luca Ligotti, Luisa Herzog, Lukas Kunze
Country Germany
+172 points Buildner University Rankings
  • 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

2nd Prize Winner

Project name

MIKROSERAMBI

Authors Isaac Lee, Melinda Kumala, Eu Juin Toh, Caleb Lew
Country Singapore

3rd Prize Winner

Project name

Gathering House

Because of the architectural competitions we can challenge ourselves against various approaches to designing. They also give us an opportunity to bridge the gap between academic knowledge and real world practice. Overall this creates an exciting environment for us to experiment in and explore unconventional ideas which we really enjoy.

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Authors Łukasz Danilczuk, Zuzanna Derska, Urszula Jędrzejak
Country Poland
+72 points Buildner University Rankings
  • 9/10 Linework
  • 10/10 Quality of drawings
  • 9/10 Balance of color
  • 9/10 Layout
  • 9/10 Hierarchy
  • 8/10 Annotation
  • 9/10 Text
  • 10/10 Clarity of story
  • 9/10 Clarity of diagrams
  • 9/10 Quality of overall presentation

Buildner Sustainability Award

Project name

Cocotl Home

Participating in contests entails constant activity and the cultivation of thoughts, designs, and the pursuit of new possibilities. Attempting to solve design challenges through contests accelerates the thought process and allows for greater creativity.

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Authors Karina Schwartzman, Karen Poulain, Paola Williams, Diego Sierra
Country Mexico
  • 8/10 Linework
  • 8/10 Quality of drawings
  • 9/10 Balance of color
  • 7/10 Layout
  • 9/10 Hierarchy
  • 8/10 Annotation
  • 7/10 Text
  • 9/10 Clarity of story
  • 8/10 Clarity of diagrams
  • 8/10 Quality of overall presentation

Honorable Mentions

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Project name

SSoudou

Author Emmanuel Batchily
Country France
Project name

BIOPHILIC HOME

Project name

Yurt 2.0

Authors Gerald Low, Chen Yixin, Chen Ziqian
Country Australia
+72 points Buildner University Rankings
Project name

Pocket House

Country United States
Project name

Parasite House

Project name

Beekeeper's House

Shortlisted projects

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MANAUARA BOATHOUSE

Camila miwa Arai

Aline Nakamura

Luisa Caminha

Centro Universitário Belas Artes , Fine Arts - Unit 3

+2 points Buildner University Rankings!
Brazil

GLITCH

Vlad Chabai

Netherlands

Building Bridges

Malte Terboven

Luca Ligotti

Luisa Herzog

Lukas Kunze

The Trier University of Applied Sciences, Hochschule Trier

+172 points Buildner University Rankings!
Germany

SoftHand Home

Pengcheng Hu

Partyfriendship

China

MDU LA

Jamie Kleine

United States

ReNook Microhome

Jessica Hardin

United States

HALF KONTAING | Micro Rural Khmer House

Sam Bunlong

Cambodia

SSoudou

Emmanuel Batchily

France

The Somali Bantu

Isaac Duong

Ben Cheah

Canada

BRIDGE HOUSE

Philippos Photiadis

Andi Belulaj

Alex Chatzigiannis

Vicky Papaliakou

Greece

Pallet House

Klaudia Szczecińska

Poznan University of Technology , Politechnika Poznańska

+2 points Buildner University Rankings!
Poland

Home of Hope

Santiago Caballero barrios

Valentina Castillo herrán

Mateo Cardona díaz

Paula andrea Ayala barajas

Universidad de los Andes – Colombia

+2 points Buildner University Rankings!
Colombia

FireBug

John Mitchell

Jasper Chen

Joyce Wu

Brian Chang

University of British Columbia

+2 points Buildner University Rankings!
Canada

Cocotl Home

Karina Schwartzman

Karen Poulain

Paola Williams

Diego Sierra

Mexico

NON HUMAN CENTRIC

Apichai Jarurattanakua

Chaiyaphot Thankhem

Patdhadon Pengphet

Gumpon Suwanprinya

QUAD&CO Co.,Ltd.

Thailand

SlumSpire

Pedro Gontijo

Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, The Mackenzie Presbyterian University

+2 points Buildner University Rankings!
Brazil

Parasite House

Xavier Duque

María Mercedes Reinoso

Nicolás Viteri

Ecuador

Simplicity

Malin Persson

Sweden

Tatami

Sascha Blocksdorf

Germany

DRY FOREST HOUSE

Jessica Garcia huachez

Andrea Bautista Machado

Juan Arroyo Labán

Peru

Tsubo Niwa Home

Efklides Tzimapitis

Ian Sitilides

University of Colorado Denver

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
United States

Gathering House

Łukasz Danilczuk

Zuzanna Derska

Urszula Jędrzejak

Warsaw University of Technology , Politechnika Warszawska

+72 points Buildner University Rankings!
Poland

MIKROSERAMBI

Isaac Lee

Melinda Kumala

Eu Juin Toh

Caleb Lew

Singapore

YOKU KABIN

Ben Albury

Juan Felipe Castellanos

Nicole Tian

Amalgam Studio

United States

Yurt 2.0

Gerald Low

Chen Yixin

Chen Ziqian

The University of Melbourne

+72 points Buildner University Rankings!
Australia

level UP

Natalie Hinkel

Jonas Schuh

Leander Abstein

Technical University of Kaiserslautern , Technische Universität Kaiserslautern

+2 points Buildner University Rankings!
Germany

SLOW-WATER

Ben Ingle

Ross Robertson

United Kingdom

Alleyway House

Jaeseung Shin

Sejong University, 세종대학교

+2 points Buildner University Rankings!
South Korea

VA.RI.able Home

Annalisa Valentino

Rosaria Iacovone

University of Naples Federico II, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II

+2 points Buildner University Rankings!
Italy

ROOFTOP UNITS

Alin Mutu

Accademia di Architettura, Accademia di architettura di Mendrisio

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Switzerland

Pocket House

Caleb White

Emily Gruendel

United States

Porena Whare | Floating Home

Richard Foreman

Emily Nguyen

New Zealand

Beekeeper's House

Shuhao Wang

Jian Gao

ETSAM: Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (UPM)

+72 points Buildner University Rankings!
Spain

Parapet House

David Hu

Kevin Cheung

United States

Hope at Home- A sustainable microhome for Syrian relief shelter

Tin wo Tsa

Tessa Tsui

Tega Ejovwo-Digba

Rajni Nessa

University of Edinburgh

+2 points Buildner University Rankings!
United Kingdom

LOPP-HOUSE

Luca Ciravegna

Italy

Urban Superposition

Zhen Lei

University of Pennsylvania

+2 points Buildner University Rankings!
China

MICROLIVING

Robert Tranter

Formed Architecture

United States

MICRO (CLIMATE) HOME

Hugo Chartier

France