MACRO to MICRO

Eleven, in partnership with BETA Events, takes on the subject of future living in an international competition aimed at revolutionising the way we dwell at multiple scales: from macro to micro.

Competition innovators and international challenge creators Eleven have announced their latest ideas and design competition ‘Macro to Micro: The New Living Revolution’. This latest competition invites creatives from all around the world to revolutionise the way we live and inhabit our world at multiple scales: from city to housing.

The way we live has dramatically changed from half a century ago. New technologies provide expanded opportunities, whilst at the same time ever increasing threats posed by a fragile environment and new socio-urban shifts demand immediate action. Yet, the way we build our worlds has changed very little in the last few decades. Sure, new styles and ideas have influenced the way our man-made environments look and in some ways work but, beyond the superficial, very little true evolution has occurred. Now, Eleven, in partnership with BETA Events, is asking creatives from all around the world to join the ‘Living Revolution’ and imagine a radical new way of building our environments.

Today, we are witnessing a severe housing crisis. In the UK and across the world, there is an ever-growing shortage of homes. More often than not, the solution to this problem is new developments on green-field sites driven by profit margins, not by quality of design, individual expression, innovation or ecology. The end results are new soul-less suburbs, lacking any connection to the nature they have conquered and, in most cases, obliterated. At the same time, we live in a world which values a renewed sensibility for ecology and a more harmonious co-existence with wildlife and nature.

In Macro to Micro, we ask participants to face these problems head on. How can we design new paradigms of living at multiple scales, which address the need for more housing whist at the same time protecting and preserving the landscape they are developed within? Can we begin to see man-made urbanisations and wildlife pockets as two elements which can co-exist in symbiosis rather than in competition? And can this hold the key to a new and improved way for us to build our lives?

This competition is run as part of BETA Housing - an event on future living catering for architects, policy makers, developers, designers and researchers - which takes place on the 12^th of July in Manchester, UK. The best projects will be exhibited during the event and the winners and awarded entries officially announced and celebrated.

One Competition, Two Challenges:

Macro to Micro is one competition divided into two independent challenges linked by an overriding theme. Participants will have the option of either joining one or both challenges, depending on their preference. 

The Macro Challenge:

The first challenge is the ‘Macro Living Revolution’. In this challenge participants will focus on the city scale. There has been a conflict over the years between manmade vs nature. As we become increasingly urbanised, we are asked to expand our footprint at the expense of surrounding natural landscapes. This challenge looks back at the ‘Garden City’ ideas and projects them into today’s context. We ask creatives to engage with the idea of urban vs landscape and imagine a future where the boundaries are blurred into a new paradigm of living where urbanism and wilderness are intertwined as one ecological system. The site for this challenge is a green field area just a few miles outside of Manchester, UK.

The Micro Challenge:

The second challenge is the ‘Micro Living Revolution’. In this challenge, participants are asked to engage with the human scale and in particular reimagine a new typology of housing. This competition is a re-contextualization of the experiments which were pioneered by creative visionaries of the mid-20^th century in California, outcomes of which have become known as the ‘Case Study Houses’. In addition to seeking out contemporary strategies of building homes through modern or innovative technologies and materials, we ask participants to develop designs which in themselves are embedded within the landscapes and wildlife which they occupy.

Competition Details:

Macro to Micro is open to all creatives – both professionals and/or students – from around the world. Participants can compete individually or in a team of up to four people. Each team is asked to register and submit their proposals online by the 4th of June 2018, in the form of two digital A1 landscape sheets accompanied by an additional 500 words explanatory text. Models are highly encouraged but are not mandatory.

The competition, which officially opens for registration on Monday the 26th of February 2018, is scheduled to run until the 4th of June 2018 at 11:00am (UK Time). Awarded entries will be officially announced on the 12th of July 2018 online and at the BETA Housing Event in Manchester, UK. Winners will be selected by an esteemed jury panel of experts, decision makers, architects, designers and academics. The public will also have an opportunity to vote for their favourite design online and during the BETA Housing Event. The people’s favourite will go on to win the People’s Choice Award.

‘Macro to Micro’ is Eleven’s tenth international competition to date. Since their start in mid-2015, the challenges launched by this UK based magazine and creative agency have received great global success. Previous competitions have been exhibited in Europe and the USA, published in multiple international magazines such as the Architecture Review, the AJ, Dezeen, Archdaily and Designboom, and have been featured in Bustler’s ‘Top-10 Best Competitions of the Year Awards’ in once in 2015, 2016 and twice in 2017.

For more information on Eleven’s Macro to Micro challenge and to register, please visit: https://www.eleven-magazine.com/competitions/

Competition Schedule:

Competition Opens: 26^th February 2018


Early Bird Fees change to Standard Fees: 12^th March

Standard Fees change to Late Bloomer Fees: 21^st May

Registration Closes / Submission Deadline: 4^th June 11:00am (UK Time)

Public Voting Opens: 6^th June


Winners and Awarded Notified: 2^ndJuly

Official Awards Presentation hosted by BETA Housing Manchester 2018: 12^th July

Exhibition hosted by BETA Housing Manchester 2018: 12^th July

Competition Fees:

Participants will have the option of either joining one of the two challenges or compete in both. Teams wishing to join both the Macro and Micro challenges will receive a 25% discounted rate.

Single-Challenge Competition Fees (Macro OR Micro):

Early Bird:            £40

Standard:             £60

Late Bloomer:      £80 

Full-Challenge Competition Fees (Macro AND Micro):

Early Bird:            £60 (instead of £80)

Standard:             £90 (instead of £120)


Late Bloomer:      £120 (instead of £160)

  

Competition Awards:

MACRO Challenge:

• Winner: £1000
• Runner-Up: £400
• Minimum 6 Honourable Mentions: no cash (boo) but lots of glory (yay)!
• People’s Choice Award (selected by general public voting online and at the BETA Housing Manchester 2018 event): £100

MICRO Challenge:

• Winner: £1000 
• Runner-Up: £400
• Minimum 6 Honourable Mentions: no cash (boo) but lots of glory (yay)!
• People’s Choice Award (selected by general public voting online and at the BETA Housing Manchester 2018 event): £100

*All of the awarded entries listed above will be published on Eleven’s ‘Elevenses’ feed, social media and Apple News channel. In addition, awarded entries will receive fantastic worldwide attention through Eleven’s media partners and be featured in our competition partner’s exclusive event BETA Manchester Housing 2018 on the 12^th July 2018.

 

Confirmed Competition Jury (so far):

- Adam Vickers (Managing Director of Squareyard Landscape Architecture)

- Wayne Hemingway (Chairman at CABE and Founder of Hemingway Design)

- Max Farrell (Senior Partner at Farrells)

- Lisa Kinch (Associate Architect at Farrells and Lecturer at Manchester School of Architecture)

- Katy Lock (Policy Manager at Garden Cities and New Towns, Town and Country Planning Association)

- Steve Sheen (Housing Strategy and Partnerships Manager at Manchester City Council)

- Andrea Verenini (Founder, Eleven)

 

Competition Organizers:

This competition is organised by Eleven, an architecture, design and creative-lifestyle magazine, creative agency and online platform dedicated to design-led innovation. Eleven create award-winning international competitions and publish articles on the industry’s coolest people, places, ideas and designs.

Find out more about Eleven: www.eleven-magazine.com

Register on the competition: www.eleven-magazine.com/competitions

 

Competition Partner and Exhibition:

This competition is run in partnership with BETA Events and will be featured as part of ‘BETA Housing 2018’, held on Thursday 12^th July 2018 in Manchester, United Kingdom.

Find out more here: http://www.betaevents.co.uk/

 

Competition Sponsors:

This competition is sponsored by Squareyard.

Squareyard is a landscape led design practice with international experience on large scale master planning and urban design projects, specialising in urban regeneration, residential schemes and community design.

Find out more here: www.yd2.co.uk