Volume Zero, an International architecture and design magazine, has announced a new competition called "Aquatecture", inviting architects, designers, engineers, teachers, thinkers, students and everyone who can imagine a Utopian Aquatic World for the future humans to live in. 

The competition is receiving early bird registrations until August 31, 2018 and last day to register to the competition is September 30, 2018. 

Introduction

Water – an element in nature that life is constantly surrounded by; an element that has given birth to life on Earth and continues to support it. Although we made our shift to land, our bond with water still remains significant as ever; it is an element that is a basic necessity for our survival.

The life on Earth is today plagued by adverse climate changes, global warming, the increasing toxic emissions, rising population, and scarce land resources. With various countries, such as Holland , fighting rising water levels for decades and with the current trends, it is now time to brace ourselves against the unseen future and design solutions to cope with the ever-changing community on Planet Earth.

Today, the discourse of ‘smart cities’ has overtaken every conversation discussing the future of architecture. It is a glaring question as to how are we going to address the equation between the contrasting aspects of ecological crises and technological advancement for building our futures.

Covering 71% of the Earth, it is now time to look at the water again as a harbinger of life in the near future; a place where human life can again thrive in its original glory. Creating living spaces on water will soon become a need to survive as a

“What happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic”

Extract - Greenpeace report on melting ice in Arctic paradigms of nature.

The Challenge

We believe that architects and designers possess the necessary tools and skill set to formulate comprehensive design concepts that have the innate capabilities to help adapt to an issue that is both, multifaceted and enormous.

We invite architects, designers, engineers, teachers, thinkers, students and everyone who can imagine a Utopian Aquatic World for the future humans to live in. The participants should focus on creating solutions that enable people to live safely and adapt comfortably to the impending climate change, thus securing living spaces for our future generations.

The competition challenges the participants to create futuristic, water-based habitat for humans to prosper and thrive on this aquatic/amphibian Home that is flood resilient.

The participants are to design an aquatic/ amphibian Home that can house 20 individuals with spaces to live in (sleep, rest, sanitize, work and interact). The spaces in the program can support the following:

Relaxation
Interaction
Food Generation
Food Storage
Water and Energy Generation

The participants are free to think and create their own spaces as a part of the program for the challenge.

The aquatic/amphibian dwelling should be self-sustainable, environmentally sound and should be able to survive the harshest seas and weathers of the world.

The dwelling can be movable by itself or can use an external agent for changing its location around the world.

The participants are to design thinking of a utopian future for humanity on water, one that can be replicated around the world in any number.

Awards

Prizes of total USD 4500, broken down as follows:

1st Prize: USD 2000 + Certificate + Trophies + Publication

2nd Prize: USD 1200 + Certificate+ Trophies + Publication

3rd Prize: USD 800 + Certificate+ Trophies + Publication

5 Honorable Mentions: USD 100 + Certificate

10 Special Mentions: Certificate

Winners, Honorable Mentions and Special Mentions will be published on Volume Zero website and several international architecture and design magazines.

To show our appreciation, all the participants would receive participation certificate.

Schedule

Early Bird Registration: 26th June 2018 to 31st August 2018

Standard Registration: From 1st September 2018 to 30th September 2018 

Last Day for Queries: 15th September, 2018

Closing Date for Submission: 10th October 2018

Announcement of Winners: 10th December 2018

Registration

Early Bird Registration:

Participants from India - INR 1800 (per team) 

Participants from Other Countries - USD 65 (per team)

Judging Criteria

The final entries will be judged by an esteemed panel of judges who are experts in the subject matter. The jury panel will judge the submitted entries as per the criteria mentioned below:

Design Innovation: The participating entries will be judged on the basis of the innovativeness of the design ideas and concepts.

Site Selection: The entries will be judged on the location of the site selected and the design’sresponsiveness to the same.

Self - Sustainability: The entries submitted have to address the aspect of sustainability as the designs have to be viable in the site context and unforeseen climatic conditions.

Eligibility

Aquatecture 2018 Architecture Design competition is open to all. We invite architects, students, engineers, product designers, thinkers, companies, organizations and everyone interested in the mission of the

competition to submit their ideas. No professional qualifications are necessary. To join this competition register with us on the website.

Top image courtesy of Aquatecture

> via Volume Zero