Self-Sufficient Housing / The Self-Fab House
2nd Advanced Architecture Contest

The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia directed by Vicente Guallart - www.iaac.net - is issuing an international summons to architects, designers and students from around the world, inviting proposals for the construction of self-sufficient dwellings with an emphasis on exploring people¡¯s capacity to self-construct their own homes.
The 2nd Advanced Architecture Contest directed by Lucas Cappelli encourage in this edition of the Self-sufficient housing competition, the design of a ¡°SELF-FAB HOUSE¡± using industrial or traditional craft-based techniques generated on the basis of the knowledge of the information age, such as digital processes, software-driven manufacturing, skills and know-how in the use of new or established materials, the strategic recycling of other chains of production or familiarity with the historical processes of the construction of habitats in natural environments, revised in the light of new standards of sustainability.

The proposals must be digitally delivered in 3 PDF files DINa3 format.

Registration is free.

The prize (total value: € 39.500, 00) will be distributed at the discretion of the Juries following the bases scheme.

THEME

A Community/Self-Fabricated World
The future seemingly holds many problems for humanity such as increasing population, over consumption and the dwindling, uneven distribution of resources. As humans grow in numbers our impact on the Earth becomes substantial (visible even from space). The state of the world will be a reflection of sustainable and successful education, communication, and self-control. To a large degree this will be about the systems that humans create and the accessibility of these systems. It will not be about whether a few can solve the problems of the many, but whether the many can solve the problems of the many. To do this humanity needs cheap, ecological, sustainable systems to modify, shape and learn from their environments on the Earth.

Digital Materialization and Programmable Construction
In a modern world of cheap computation, "raw materials", or primitive building blocks can be made to have structure, to be intelligent and programmable. This can be observed, to some degree, already in the building materials of today that come in certain sizes for a given construction technique. This can be extended, made more flexible both in terms of simplicity of construction and the variety of structures that can be built. Building materials could come as smart shapes or nanobots that fit intelligently together or even assemble themselves. Shelters could even be printed in place. It should be possible that a few unskilled people working together can use these systems to build a variety of structures they might desire. These types of materials and processes will allow for builders to program with material and shapes, as a programmer might program with code.

Rapid Modification and Permanence
The division between the permanent and non-permanent shelter is becoming less clear. As was true for many traditional shelters of long ago, it is now possible today to design systems that do not just assemble "permanent" structures simply and rapidly, but also disassemble in a likewise fashion. Shelters made with such systems can be easily modifiable by the user or agents of the user, in a similar way to that of a computer file, a Lego model or a Cob house. They can grow and evolve over time, perhaps even be designed or programmed to self-adapt to changes or events (like climate change). These types of flexible systems will allow for environments that can be rapidly modifiable, dynamic and extensible with little or no physical effort by the user.

Emergent Design, Peer Production and Free Source
Information is now freely transmitted, copied and remixed. Information can represent any idea or object, real or not. It follows then that information can represent structures and shelters that can be transmitted, copied, and remixed. Data, design and knowledge become sustainable, living things. The level of description of detail can be as fine as an author or designer wants, no longer limited by language or pen and paper. Design can even be automated. At this same moment in time, gone are the days of the Library of Alexandria, where only the elite had access to information. Even more importantly, today it is not just about consumption of knowledge but the ability to dynamically and rapidly interact with it, even add to it. Now that designs can be transmitted effortlessly, everyone (who wants to) is the user, builder and designer. People can work together on designs and construction, without any direct communication or even common interest. With enough eyes most problems become trivial and global solutions begin to emerge from many minds over time (for with enough eyes most problems become trivial). Designs become living, organic and evolutionary things.

Taking advantage of modern computational and communication technology, how can architecture, programming, and design create systems that . . .
Enable people to learn by engaging them in their environment and in their place in the world?
Give people the control to sustainably design, assemble, build and modify their environment?
Let people solve problems and share solutions, even local, fine grain problems and solutions that may be uninteresting or not well understood from the outside?

RULES & PRIZES

1. Criteria of Eligibility and Restrictions
Eligibility
The competition is opened to students and professional.
There is no age limit; the projects may be carried out be individually or in groups, with no restriction on the number of members of the team.

2. Free Registration
No fee or other payment will be required of those entering the competition.

3. Awards
1st Prize:
3,000 € + Master in Advanced Architecture IAAC (value 11.500,00 €)

2nd Prize:
2,000 € + Master in Advanced Architecture IAAC (value 11.500,00 €)

3rd Prize:
1,000 € + Master in Advanced Architecture IAAC (value 11.500,00 €)

Honourable Mentions: Net-Delegates

The Institute for advanced architecture of Catalunya is also interested in setting up an international research group oriented toward the study and dissemination of Advanced Architecture. With this in mind, the jury will select 1 (one) delegate for each country from which proposals are received, who will receive a mention as a distance researcher with the Institute.
Each Net-delegate will take part in various activities for the purpose of integrating this virtual community of researchers and the subsequent development of international projects.

4. Topic: Self-sufficient Housing: The Self-Fab House.
The programme challenges the participants to design a self-sufficient dwelling oriented toward self-fabrication.
The participants will be free to decide on the size and location of the Project, which must be clearly detailed and justified

5. Documents and Graphic Materials Required
Contents
Site plans, floor plans, elevations, sections, perspective drawings, photographs of models and axonometric drawings at any scale.
Detailed drawings and other graphic materials and descriptive texts that explicating the project may be submitted as annexes. The descriptive texts must be in English.

6. Language
The proposals must without exception be drafted in English.

7. Submission of Proposals
All of the proposals must be posted on this website/SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL using the password supplied with confirmation of registration before Monday 17 September 2007, and must without exception be received before Tuesday 18 September 2007.

8. Anonymity
In order to ensure anonymity, all of the graphic material and written description must be marked with the entrant¡¯s 5-digit personal identification number (the identification code supplied by e-mail) in a 50 mm x 10 mm box in the bottom left corner of each sheet.
Entrants who lose or forget their code should contact idrecovery@advancedarchitecturecontest.org

On receipt of the entry by the competition staff, the ID box will be covered with opaque paper and the entry will be allocated a random ID code.
The anonymity of the material submitted will be maintained until the final decision of the jury has been declared.

9. Additional Information
The proposals must not have been previously published or entered either previously or simultaneously to any other competition. The authors of the proposals will retain the moral rights to these, although the organizers of the competition will have the right to publish the winning proposals.

IAAC JURY
Vicente Guallart Director
Willy Muller Development Director
Lucas Cappelli Director of Research
Marta Male-Alemany Director of Technology
Jorge Godoy Head of Studies
Ignasi Perez Professor

GUEST JURY
Chile Alejandro Guti¨¦rrez Member of OVE ARUP
China Yung Ho Chang Head of the Department of Architecture, MIT
Japan Turlif Vilbrandt Director of Technology, Digital Materialization Group
Korea Young Joon Kim YO2 ARCHITECTS (Seoul)
Mexico Michel Rojkind Rojkind Arquitectos
Netherland Ben van Berkel Director of Staedelschule Frankfurt am Main
Serbia Branko Kolarevic Associate Professor of Architecture, Penn University
Slovenia Bostjan Vuga Sadar - Vuga Arhitekti
Spain Izaskun Chinchilla ETSAM, Madrid
Spain Jose Luis Echevarria La Salle Architecture School, Barcelona
Spain Josep Llu¨ªs Mateo MAP ARQUITECTOS
Spain Luis Falcon LOAD Office architecture
Spain Ramon Prat Director ACTAR
Taiwan J.M. Lin THE OBSERVER DESIGN GROUP (Taiepi)
UK Brett Steele Director, Architectural Association School of Architecture
Uruguay Julio Gaeta Director EL ARQA
USA Behrokh Khoshnevis Director of the Center for Rapid Automated Fabrication Technologies
USA Greg Lynn Institute of Architecture di Angewandte
USA Neil Gershenfeld Director of the Center for Bits and Atoms. MIT

CONTACT US

2nd Advanced Architecture Contest

Pujades 102 baixos, Poble Nou
08005 Barcelona, Spain.
fax 93 300 43 33
contact@advancedarchitecturecontest.org
www.advancedarchitecturecontest.org

Directors
Lucas Cappelli
Vicente Guallart

Coordinator
Luciana Asinari

Contents Advisers:
Marta Male-Alemany
Willy Muller
Jennifer Mack
Isabel Castro Olañeta
Gaston Jorge Gaye
Turlif Vilbrandt
Orfeas Giannakidis

Communication Events:
Jorge Ledesma
Mateo Lima Valente

Web Design:
www.nitropix.com
Leticia Peuser
Roxana Degiovanni
Franco Cappelli

Web Data-base
Emilio Degiovanni

Collaborators
Areti Markopoulou
Florise Pages
Silvia Brandi
Chris Kemper
Jesus Lara
Hongao
Chiara Farinea

Organized by
Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia
www.iaac.net