Volume Zero Architecture Competition invites each one of you to participate in our 18th edition of architecture competitions, The Extreme Habitat 2022 Architecture Competition. The competition invites both students and individuals across various professional streams who believe in the mission of creating a self-sustainable off-the-grid dwelling amongst nature. We encourage you to come up with a ground breaking proposal and create your mark in the field of architecture. 

Here at Volume Zero we believe that students are the future and it’s important that they be given a platform to showcase their talent. It gives us immense pride in announcing that Volume Zero Competitions has completed 5 years, and to celebrate this occasion we are glad to introduce a student discount. Student discount participants are requested to use VZSTUDENTS in the promo code while registering in the competition so as to receive a discount on the fees. To know more download the brief now.

Introduction

Home is a domain that is intimate to all. For generations the core concept of a home has stayed the same however has been gradually moving far away from just being a humble shelter.

A home is a personalized space that not only protects us from the elements of nature but also keeps us safe from manmade threats. It is a space that evokes emotions of feeling protected, comforted, warmth, pleasure, nurtured, loved, and many more amongst its. 

Being central to one’s everyday functions, needs and future desires of an individual this archetype has much iteration across the globe owing to factors like geography, climatic conditions, user group, profession, availability of material and labour.

Home typologies range from simpler forms such as cabins, igloos and tents to 21st century experimental habitats such as smart homes, floating homes, inflatable homes and the list just keeps going on. 

Architecture developed amidst nature represents a certain kind of poetic exploration coupled with a renewed perspective on a human scale. In this way the association between man to nature and of architecture to landscape tends to evolve from time to time. 

Currently the architecture we experience in our surrounding landscape is a product of the relationship developed between humans and nature. More than ever there is an awareness created towards landscape being a precious inheritance, one that can be preserved and enhanced by architecture so as to pass it on to future generations. 

“Study nature, love nature, stays close to nature. It will never fail you” - Frank Lloyd Wright (American architect).

Opportunity

Lifestyles in our cities have exerted tremendous pressure on one’s mind leading to many lifestyle-based evils like paranoia, anxiety, insomnia, and many more illnesses. Architecture can be seen as one of the mediums through which both places and people can be transformed so as to adapt with the changing societal norms.

Recent times have seen countless people venturing outdoors with the notion of self-healing or simply are themselves. 

According to studies, even short-term interaction with nature and nature-based designs has a positive effect on one's psychological wellbeing. Hence architecture when intertwined with nature plays a crucial role in protecting and improving human mental health and wellbeing. 

This being said we as designers have a self-imposed responsibility that is to create Architecture that is responsive to its surroundings, helping its user interact with the surroundings, experiencing the true potential of a site context with minimal impact to the site or the environment to make it a habitat.

Challenge

Volume Zero invites you to imagine a way of living in the lap of nature. Participants are to design a House for 4 people that would provide a comfortable living accommodation that is a unique way of experiencing the surrounding. 

The design and concept of the house should be innovative, creative sustainable and an off-the-grid solution with minimal impact on the environment. We encourage participants to visualize a completely off-the-grid solution incorporating smart technologies that promoting sustainability and synchronise with the environment. 

The House would be a self-sufficient dwelling habitat for 4 individuals and the area of the proposal should not exceed 450 sq. ft. built up. Proposals may consider spatial flexibility as a vital aspect of all the designs fulfilling all the needs of their users. 

The proposed design may also consider modern technological advancements in architecture to make the house adaptive to its surroundings, making it a comfortable home by eliminating any type of hazards. Participants can decide the nature of the house as per the context it sits in.

 Designed proposals can be stationary, portable, mobile, floating, amphibious, submerged underwater, atop a tree, or respond to the elements of nature possessed by the site context they choose.

“We should attempt to bring nature, houses, and human beings together in a higher unity” - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (German-American architect).

Site

In today’s fast paced world we find it difficult to take a moment and appreciate our natural surroundings. The human presence in nature represents interplay of scales as well as an association of archetypal shelters against vast sceneries.

Participants are select a site that is wrapped in nature such as coastal areas, deserts, oasis, atop mountains, hanging against a cliff, oceans, saltpans, forests, riverbanks, mountains, forests, remote islands, on snow-clad peaks. The site selected must be strongly justified by the design proposal.

Participants are encouraged to explore site conditions wherein human inhabitation could get challenging. The selected context should inspire participants to come up with a design proposal that innovative and outside the limits of conventional thinking.  

Awards

Prizes of total USD 4000, broken as follows.

1st prize USD 2000 + Certificate + Publication

2nd prize USD 1200 + Certificate + Publication

3rd prize USD 800 + Certificate + Publication

Student Award: USD 500 + Certificates+ Publication 

This Award is reserved for the best student work for the competition apart from the first 3 winners

10 Honourable mentions: Certificates  

Winners and Honourable Mentions will be published on Volume Zero Competitions website and several international architecture and design magazines.  

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

Schedule

Early Bird Registration: 18^th April 2022 to 24^th June 2022

Standard Registration: 25^th June 2022 to 29^th July 2022

Last Day for Queries:  27^th July 2022

Closing Date for Submission: 5^th August 2022

Announcement of Winners: 6^th October 2022

Registration fee

Early Bird: 18th April 2022 to 24th June 2022

Participants from India – INR 1800+18% GST = INR 2124 (per team) 

Participants from Other Countries - 70 + 18% GST = USD 82.6 (per team)

Standard: 25th June 2022 to 29th July 2022

Participants from India - INR 2700 + 18% GST = 3186 (per team)

Participants from Other Countries - USD 90+ 18% GST =USD 106.2 (per team)

Student Discount- 10%

Early Bird: 18th April 2022 to 24th June 2022

Participants from India – INR 1620+18% GST = INR 1911.6 (per team)

Participants from Other Countries - 63+ 18% GST = USD 74.34 (per team)

Standard: 25th June 2022 to 29th July 2022

Participants from India – INR 2430+18% GST = INR 2867.4 (per team) 

Participants from Other Countries - USD 81+ 18% GST = USD 95.58 (per team)

Eligibility

Extreme Habitat 2022 Architecture 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. 

More information can be found on the website. 

Top image courtesy of Volume Zero. 

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