The winning MICROHOME competition designs present innovative modular off-grid structures

Buildner Architecture Competitions has announced the winners of their MICROHOME Edition #6 competition. Launched as part of their Small-Scale Architecture initiative, and in partnership with ARCHHIVE BOOKS, the annual program seeks ideas for living small as the affordable housing, climate, and economic crises intensify across the globe.

The competition tasked participants to develop designs for an off-grid, modular structure that could accommodate a hypothetical young professional couple. The only requirement is that the structure's total floor area could not exceed 270 square feet. Participants were encouraged to rethink spatial organization and incorporate unique aesthetics, new technologies, and innovative materials. 

The winning projects can be seen below.

First Prize and Buildner Student Award: Building Bridges by Malte Terboven, Luca Ligotti, Luisa Herzog, Lukas Kunze (Trier University of Applied Sciences, Germany)

Jury comment excerpt: "Building Bridges is a MICROHOME planned for construction along a refugee migration route. ‘Bridges’ of connected cabins are created over time as multiple homes are built adjacent to one another. The project is aspirational in its ambition to function as a means for community building, in a space that is environmentally harsh, culturally mixed and transient. The proposed construction is a modular system of recycled materials fully transportable in a single truck."

Second Prize: MIKROSERAMBI by Isaac Lee, Melinda Kumala, Eu Juin Toh, Caleb Lee (Singapore)

Jury comment excerpt: "Mikroserambi is a proposal for a self-sustaining refitting of a typical home within slums in the Asia-Pacific region. The submission focuses on a slum in Jakarta. It consists of a two-floor home scheme that places an open living area on the ground floor open to the community as a shared space, above which is programmed a private bedroom with garden. Rainwater filtration for drinking and bathing water, rooftop of cells and the home garden all offer opportunities for a self-sustaining and clean off-grid MICROHOME."

Third Prize: Gathering House by Łukasz Danilczuk, Zuzanna Derska, Urszula Jędrzejak (Warsaw University of Technology, Poland)

Jury comment excerpt: "Gathering House focuses on bridging social gaps that exist in large Polish communities. The proposal draws from Polish customs as well as responds to what the author poses as inherent challenges within urban Polish city blocks which contain over-scaled central courtyards that have a tendency to promote isolation. The submission offers an opportunity to infill these empty spaces with small-scale homes and community gardens, which could yield: higher density living, access to nature, and community programs for closer social integration."

Buildner Sustainability Award: Cocotl Home by Karina Schwartzman, Karen Poulain, Paola Williams, Diego Sierra (Mexico)

Jury comment excerpt: "Cocotl Home is a proposal for a couple living on the coconut plantations of warm and humid southern Mexico. Responding to the climatic and geographical conditions, with a focus on bioclimatic and sustainable construction, the design implements earth mixtures with coconut fibers as well as aerated coconut chipboard panels. Other ‘green’ features include a coconut orchard, vegetable garden, hen house, compost heap, bio digester and rainwater storage cistern."

More information on the competition series can be found on Buildner’s official website here.