The winning MICROHOME 2020 Competition designs

The winning designs of the second annual MICROHOME architecture competition have just been announced, featuring innovative solutions to small-scale living. The brief tasked designers to conceptualize an off-grid, modular micro home no greater than 25 square meters (269 square feet) that would accommodate a hypothetical young professional couple.

1st Prize Winner: Horror Vacui
Giovanni Cavaglion, Pu Wang, Emanuele Cavaglion, Xiaoxu Liang (Italy)

1st Prize Winner: Horror Vacui

 

Project summary: “Horror Vacui — a postulate attributed to Aristotle, who articulated for the sector of physics a belief that ‘nature abhors an empty space.’ this is often a beautifully rendered project for a transformative housing unit that functions sort of a machine, with retractable ceiling and floor modules controlled via app. […] The project yields an ingenious use of small spaces by an easy construction system that gives multiple atmospheres and usage scenarios.”

Jury commentary: “It may be a good solution to take advantage of the utmost space available in any layout mode. It Interestingly integrates the digital into the physical space, to form it flexible and adaptable to the user.”

2nd Prize Winner: Bricoleur River-House Initiative

Georgia Huang, Andrew Kurniawan, Leonardo Vincent (Australia)

 

​2nd Prize Winner: Bricoleur River-House Initiative

 

Project summary: “BRI — Bricoleur River-House Initiative — is an upcycling proposal for the polluted and crowded slums of cities like Jakarta, Indonesia. The submission offers a prototype micro-housing unit that mixes the reuse of building materials from slums with 3D-printed plastic waste recycled from rivers. […] The entry suggests a spread of module types, amid axonometric sections shaped to integrate cross-ventilation and integrated plumbing, also as vernacular elements, like the Javanese pendhapa — a pavilion-like structure, built on columns, for outdoor spaces shaded from the sun.”

Jury commentary: “The proposal combines material and spatial innovation to contribute to a more social, ecologic, and economically sustainable urban future in developing countries.”

3rd Prize Winner & Archhive Books Student Award: Anonymous Watchman

Jinlong Li, Sen Yan, Xibao Ren, Huichao Luo (University of New South Wales, Australia)

 

​3rd Prize Winner & Archhive Books Student Award: Anonymous Watchman

 

Project summary: “The project proposes an oblong block form with articulated pocket windows, a circular rooftop water collection tank, and one curved corner — these articulate the shape only enough to offer it refined, idiosyncratic proportions without appearing over-designed. it’s a superb and tasteful proposal that reads sort of a product within the vein of these by MUJI, IKEA, Toyota, and a number of other recent companies offering well-designed prefab housing units for off-grid living.”

Jury commentary: “Tiny, compact and delightful — even as a microhome should be — with integrated energy and water solutions, good daylight without being transparent, and therefore the use of straightforward and natural materials.”

BB Green Award: E-COMMUNITY

Ali bugra Cebeci, Oguz Kemal Basar (Italy)

 

​BB Green Award: E-COMMUNITY​

 

To learn more about the winning entries, honorable mentions, and shortlisted projects, visit the competition website.

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