Architecture at Zero 2023

Architecture at Zero 2023 is a design competition for decarbonization, equity, and resilience, open to students and professionals worldwide. It serves to engage the fields of architecture, design, engineering, and planning in the pursuit of sustainable design.

The 2023 competition challenge is to design an agriculture center, connecting the history of California’s first Black town, to its present aspiration to become a destination for sustainable agriculture and Black history.

Graduate students and professionals will also design housing for farm students on the site.

Download the competition packet for all required materials and documents here.

Architecture at Zero is presented by Southern California Edison (SCE); San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E); Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E); Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) and The American Institute of Architects California (AIA CA) and The American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS).

CHALLENGE

The 2023 Architecture at Zero competition focuses on decarbonization, resilience, and equity. The challenge is to design a teaching and innovation farm lab, connecting the history of California’s first Black town, to its present aspiration to become a destination for sustainable agriculture.

Furthermore, all entrants will design the Teaching & Innovation Farm Lab. Graduate students and professionals will also design housing for farm students on the site.

Key aspects of this project include responding to the challenges of equity and resilience through the design solution.

There are four parts to this competition:

First, entrants will create an overall site plan to accommodate the program. Entrants should highlight any energy efficiency, renewable energy, energy storage, and carbon reduction strategies or systems shown.

Second, entrants will design the building in detail, demonstrating how the design will result in lower carbon emissions and embodied carbon, and addressing the requirements of the California Title 24 Building Energy Efficiency Standards. In order to indicate how the building design will result in lower carbon emissions, entrants will provide the required documentation and may also include supplementary documentation.

Third, entrants are asked to describe how this project will build resilience. Entrants will be asked to complete a table outlining the inclusion of climate adaptation strategies and indicate on the site plan or section aspects of design strategies that support resiliency.

Finally, entrants are asked to consider how their design addresses equity for the community. Entrants will write a short essay and indicate on the site plan or section aspects of design strategies that support equity.

The judgment of entries is on the presentation submission including the material highlighting the resilience and equity aspects of the submission. A Technical Review Panel will convene to consider the decarbonization strategies of each entry. This Technical Evaluation is then provided to the Jury. The Technical Evaluation is not the sole criterion on which entries will be judged but acts as a complement to the overall project design evaluation.

Entries are weighed individually, not in competition with others. Jury decisions will be based solely on the materials submitted. Criteria include quality of design, resolution of the program or idea, innovation, thoughtfulness, and technique. See jury panelists and judging criteria here.

Moreover, the announcement of the winners will be on July 14, 2023, in an online event. Details forthcoming.

DEADLINES

The submission deadline is June 15, 2023, at 6:00 pm PST.

Please note that the Architecture at Zero competition uses an electronic registration process. If you are submitting multiple projects, you will need to register each project separately.

By submitting a project, the entrant agrees to all Terms and Conditions outlined in the Architecture at Zero Terms and Conditions. In any public use of the submissions, the design team will get a credit. All submissions are final.