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.
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: 18th April 2022 to 24th
June 2022
Standard Registration: 25th June 2022 to 29th
July 2022
Last Day for Queries:
Closing Date for Submission: 5th August 2022
Announcement of Winners: 6th 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% = 3186 (per team)
Participants from Other Countries - USD 90+ 18% =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% = 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.
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