The basic principles of a home are shelter and a safe environment for its user. Whether it is raining, storming or sunny outside, your home is where you retreat to. Home has always played this role for humankind since the agricultural era. However, through changes in history, the home has changed as well. A home has evolved from a public place during the Archaic period to a private space during the Industrial period, when every family had their own home. Now in the 21st century, or the data age, the concept of a home has changed again.

The home is starting to play a more diverse role in our lives. Not only are we spending more time at home, but we are also finding new purposes for our spaces. Our home is not just for living and sleeping anymore. New activities enabled by technology, such as online education, video work calls, workout classes and social zoom sessions, expand our home’s functionality.

At the moment, the home is solely seen as a private place. Yet, everytime we invite guests into our homes, our spaces become a little bit more public. Nowadays, the lines between private and public are continuously blurred. Video calling, snapchat videos, instagram stories, working from home or online education - there are countless examples where the public is invited into our private spaces.  

Currently, our homes are not designed for this data age. The acoustics, lighting and internet connection often deter efficient video calling or impair image quality. Moreover, it is becoming more challenging to separate work time from downtime at home. Now that digital communication has become the norm, a new kind of space needs to be introduced: the public digital space at home. How does this space look? What is the connection to the more traditional functions of our homes? How can the design of a home ensure downtime from our online presence? How can we design the perfect light and acoustics for working from home, without the glare of sunlight or dirty laundry in the background? The flexibility of video communication could also be applied to the floorplan of our future homes.

Our designs should reflect the new functionality of the future home and incorporate the relationship between offline private spaces and public digital spaces. It is time to create new technical and architectural design criteria for a home. Let’s find out how this could look.

DESIGN BRIEF: Design the future living space, where there is a clear distinction between public and private spaces in regards to online and offline presence. Determine a context in which you believe the future work-at-home space would thrive. Let your creativity run wild! How does the studio of the future look? Is it full with flowing shapes? Is it a hyper efficient apartment tower with tiny rooms? Do we all camp out in nature to get away from the internet? Communicate your ideas using a context drawing, a floor plan and a 3D impression (could be anything from a sketch, to a collage or a small render). 

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Deliverables:

  • 1 context plan
  • 1 floorplan
  • 1 3D impression
  • 1 written proposal 

Project to be presented on one landscape A3 sheet (297 x420  mm) in JPEG format, maximum size 5mb. The written proposal must be included in the file.

File name: name(s).jpeg (example: elinagaillard.jpeg)

Proposal (A3) must not include any information (name, organisation, school, etc.) that may give away your identity.

Proposal may be presented using any technique of your choice (sketches, diagrams, 3d visualizations, model photos, cad drawings, etc).

HOW TO SUBMIT JPEG file of your project must be submitted via email to; [email protected]

REGISTRATION: 

  • This competition is open for architecture students from all over the world. You can participate individually or in a team of max. 2 persons. Registration is done by handing in the submission requirements on time, you will receive a confirmation.
  • Submission deadline: 29th March 2021 at 23:59 (GMT+1) Amsterdam timezone

Results: 8th-9th April 2021

PRIZES 

  • The INDESEM board will select 10 projects that will have a free pass for participating in the INDESEM 2021 main event.
  • The top 5 projects will be posted on our website and all social media platforms.
  • The top 3 projects will have honourable mentions on all socials platforms of INDESEM, and will have the chance to discuss their projects one on one with our jury panel. Furthermore, the top 3 projects will receive a voucher with a value of €50,- at TASCHEN.COM to order a book of their choice.

JURY PANEL: The jury panel is composed of international architects and researchers all working from different renowned architectural firms. They are selected on their experience with the build environment and their involvement in student projects.

All documents will be reviewed by the board of INDESEM. A selection of 20 entries will be  judged by our jury panel, consisting of:

  • Kees Kaan (Founder of KAAN Architects)
  • Dick van Gameren (Dean of the Archticture Faculty at the Delft Univeristy of Technology)
  • Negar Sanaan Bensi (Lecturer and Researcher at the TU Delft, Architecture Faculty)
  • Paul Cournet (Architect at OMA*AMO)

REGULATIONS

  • INDESEM reserves the right to modify the competition schedule if deemed necessary.
  • This is an anonymous competition, there must not be any means of identification on the deliverables, otherwise the participant will be disqualified.
  • The official language of the competition is English.
  • Contacting the jury is prohibited.

DISCLAIMER: This is an open international competition hosted by INDESEM to generate progressive design ideas. There are no plans for any proposal to be built. The competition is organized for educational purposes only.

FAQ: All questions related to the competition can be mailed to [email protected] with FAQ as the subject.