Call For Ideas: The Dwelling 2023 Architecture Competition

Since the start of time, a HOME has continued to be an entity that is intimate to all living beings on the planet. A space that not only provides a physical shelter for humans and everything they hold dear but also shapes their daily lives. A home forms a distinct bond with its users and the environment that it sits in defining both personal and social interactions.

Humans traditionally have thrived on social dialogue creating communities based upon work, education, place of origin, etc. aligning interests, and a place for incubation of skills, values, and ideas fueling civilizations. These Communities play a pivotal role in defining the social fabric and embedding values and virtues by which an individual perceives the world outside this habitat.

The world is transforming at a breakneck speed putting a strain on our resources. In a quest for a better life, millions across the globe have been moving to the cities every day. This has resulted in a rise in densely populated urban areas along with a lack of land resources and financial constraints to provide sufficient housing for the masses.

This phenomenon has led to a rise in innovation focusing on unconventional ideas like Smart Homes, Pod Houses, Social Housing, Co-Living Spaces, Tiny Houses, Micro Houses, Hostels, etc., making a home accessible to many and simultaneously helping achieve one’s aspiration. The concept of these revolutionary homes encourages making the innovation of maximum functional area in a minimum footprint, thus redefining the perception of Sustainability in urban dwellings. However, the world is becoming increasingly disconnected, with social interactions growing more superficial and digital.

Can these new-age habitation models ignite a sense of community, warmth, and homeliness in an individual?

“We shape our buildings: thereafter they shape us.”    - Winston Churchill

OPPORTUNITY:

People today are facing financial and environmental setbacks, along with the quest to improve their standard of living and have more freedom in the realm of urban housing. This has led them to follow modest and efficient ways of living. Homes today are versatile entities – doubling up as offices, play areas, work-out zones, and spaces for interaction and recreation, transformative, multi-purpose, and evolving to adapt to us, not the other way around.

The Dwelling 2023 Architecture Competition invites Architects, Designers, Students, Enthusiasts, and everyone around the world, to create inventive architectural solutions challenging the conventions of the present-day Archetype of a Home and call for a sense of living based on community spirit.

Arranged in self-contained, well-integrated communities, the residential units would embody simplicity, innovation, creativity, and spatial versatility. It's time to design novel residential communities that learn from our past, adapt to our present, and anticipate our future, ultimately fostering thriving communities.

"There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about."

-Margaret J. Wheatley

CHALLENGE:

The Dwelling 2023 Architecture Competition challenges you to come up with inventive and sustainable solutions for urban dwelling clusters. Participants are encouraged to create functional, aesthetically pleasing designs that cater to the personal and communal needs of its inhabitants. The proposed archetypes should address space constraints, maximize functionality, and reflect the cultural identity of the community.

A total of 100 users should be considered for the design proposal. Participants are to choose a site relevant to the subject, in the urban context. The design has to serve as an upgrade to the standard of living of the users. While being very functional in nature, it should also be aesthetically pleasing.

The Dwelling units are to be designed using 3 different user configurations. Participants are encouraged to use more than one typology to create urban dwelling clusters. The Dwelling units are to be of the following 3 configurations:

Type 1: 2 user unit should not exceed total area of 250 sq.ft

Type 2: 4 user unit should not exceed total area of 350 sq.ft

Type 3: 6 user unit should not exceed total area of 550 sq.ft

Participants are encouraged to explore multi functionality in a space and design a home that would provide a comfortable living accommodation for its users. The design and concept of the house should be innovative, creative and sustainable.

The designed unit should be modeled to make the optimum use of space, and it needs to be explained in detail. The designed units should cater to personal needs (rest, bath, cook, and work) and community space requirements (interaction, incubation, learning). As per their discretion, the participants are free to add more functions and spaces required in their proposals that would add value to its users as per the chosen context. The design of the dwelling complex should also provide solutions for ease of circulation such as staircases, passages, etc.

These units can also be stacked or spread out in a manner to create clusters that will provide innovative solutions for challenges of present-day Urban Context.

SITE SELECTION:

The participants are to choose a site in an Urban context.

With the urban population constantly on the rise along with an increase in high-density metropolitan areas, there is an immediate need to address the housing crisis in these locations.

Many urban cities like Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York, Mumbai, etc. are coming up with innovative solutions to solve this problem. The participants are free to select their own site.

Awards:

Prizes of total USD 4000, broken down as follows:

1st Prize: USD 2000 + Certificate + Publication

2nd Prize: USD 1200 + Certificate + Publication

3rd Prize: USD 800 + Certificate + Publication

10 Honourable mentions: Certificates

Winners and Honourable 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 Registrations: 29th June 2023 to 8th September 2023
Standard Registrations: 9th September 2023 to 6th October 2023
Closing date for Submissions: 12th October 2023
Announcement of winners: 15th December 2023

ELIGIBILITY:

The Dwelling 2023 – 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.

To join this competition register with us on:

https://bit.ly/3r5mohC

Registration fees:

Early Bird Registrations: Participants from India – 1800+18% GST = INR 2124 (per team) Participants from Other Countries - 70 + 18% GST = USD 82.6 (per team)

Standard Registrations: Participants from India – 2400 + 18% GST = INR 2832 (per team) Participants from Other Countries – 85+ 18% GST = USD 100.3 (per team)