Through an open competition for young, creative minds from across the globe, and across disciplines, we sought to create a platform for sharing this knowledge. All participants were tasked with creating open source recipes of their designed dwelling for inhabiting their local nature and to share these ideas with our global community. This makes it possible for anyone anywhere to download, rebuild or even hack the designs, adapting and recontextualizing them to their local nature.
We are happy to announce the winners of the open competition. The winners were found in a rich and diverse set of proposals, from all across the globe. In a jury with a wide range of professional backgrounds consisting of Anupama Kundoo, Marcus Fairs, Nikoline Dyrup Carlsen, Nelly Ben Hayoun and Marcus Engman, the winners were selected after a set of dynamic discussions.
The three winning proposals, with motivations as follows, to be built during the H22 expo are:
1. Returning to nature, Sweden
My local setting is an island in the Stockholm archipelago where nature grows wild. Today it’s a rare thing to have access to such an environment. When living in a city you have little relationship to “real” nature. I´ve chosen to focus on an experience-based concept with the intention of deepening the relationship between humans and our nature.
I have designed the ritual of “returning to nature”. The ritual starts with a widening perspective of the scenery. The participant takes a step up on a walking path and walks into nature from above the ground. The path directs the participant through the environment and gives him a different and stronger experience of it. Just like being nude with just a pair of socks on enforces the feeling of nudity, the feeling of nature enlarges when walking on top of it.
Jury motivation
This proposal gives a poetic and playful take that goes above imaginary boundaries while simultaneously maintaining a strong degree of buildability and simplicity. The jury agreed that this is a design that invites to human interaction by allowing people to engage with one another. A component of daily lives that many people have missed during the rather traumatic period of the pandemic. The proposal aims with themes such as connectivity and collaboration to bring these two concepts back to the front, in the intersection between humans and nature. The design itself makes a big statement on the human footprint in nature; as humans impact nature simply by moving around within it. The raised structure of the dwelling alludes to that damage, and presents it in a way that avoids all the cliches of most types of sleeping structures. The structures themselves also allow for the dwelling to play with the human senses; sound, sight and touch.
Download Open Source Recipe here
2. Tree House, United States
This proposal reconsiders the idea of a treehouse – building with nature, in nature. Inspired by a childhood dream for a treehouse, this playful structure enables a new relationship with the forest by elevating you into the canopies. Unlike a traditional treehouse, the stand-alone structure does not depend on being fastened to trees, instead, it can be constructed anywhere, in any context
Tree-House is a streamlined system built from standardized wood — a cheap, renewable and accessible resource, making it an environmentally, economically and socially sustainable structure. The ubiquity of the standardized wood enables materials to be re-used in the future when the structure is no longer in use. Tree-House is a playful provocation to reconsider the spatial possibilities of a transportable tree house that brings us closer to nature.
Jury Motivation
With an urban approach to nature, the dwelling manages to combine a brave and exciting proposal with a sense of simplicity. It is unconventional yet functional and demonstrates a high degree of applicability in both urban and non-urban contexts – regardless of what a person may perceive as their local nature. The flexibility makes the dwelling useful in a variety of settings, across the globe and for different uses. The creator has made the proposal open-minded with different layouts within the proposal that suits different contexts.
Download Open Source Recipe here
3. Cork Loop, Portugal/The United Kingdom
The Cork Loop inspires people of all ages to explore and connect with the extraordinary natural environments that surround us through an adaptable modular shelter, and reflect upon how humans can create industries that protect the ecosystems which sustain them.
The compact and lightweight modular design makes the Cork Loop simple to transport and set up, opening up the possibilities for exploration. Modules can be combined in countless ways to form different structures which adapt to their environment.
Jury Motivation
Flat-packable, modular and movable. Simple and flexible with an interesting and well-thought use of materials. Those are some of the key aspects the jury all agreed makes this proposal highly worthy of being awarded. It creates a loop-like building system that could travel around the earth and be developed, elaborated, optimised and explored in a variety of contexts. It tells a story about a profound love for sleeping in nature and has a high level of understanding that simplicity in construction is highly suitable within such a context. The proposal also demonstrates a strong sense of social and environmental sustainability.
Download Open Source Recipe here
All the winning proposals are to be explored at the exhibition set up in the harbour during H22 City Expo.
Honourable Mentions
IKEA’s open competition aimed to highlight how we can creatively approach challenges of the contemporary and the future. The competition idea is based on giving young creatives visibility and a platform to share design inspiration with others. Besides the winner, the jury has chosen to give the following contestants an honorable mention for how they have demonstrated innovative and unique ideas of high quality.
Poruous, Denmark
Built by and with the elements – Inspired by the two main elements of the context; sand and migration, Poruous dwelling is utilising the materials available on-site; the dwelling is constructed of a series of bricks made of sand, water, seeds and adhesives and is constantly changing its character. The dwelling is a manifestation of a completely natural process.
Download Open Source Recipe here
Weavers House, Philippines/Australia
The intention has been to make the dwelling ‘amphibious’ and flood-resilient, the project sits on the ground within a purpose made dock, and is able to rise up to1-2m when a flood occurs, buoyed by the flood water. The material usage will depend on locally available renewable resources where possible to reduce carbon footprint and embodied energy. It pays homage to the traditions of the indigenous people living in the domain whilst remaining functional and integrated to the daily needs of the community as a whole.
Download Open Source Recipe here
Thorpe, Denmark
An overnight residency to re-engage with our precious oceans. – Thorpe provides a new lens in reconnecting ourselves with the beautiful oceans and harbours that surround us all and impact us constantly. This urban retreat aims to act as an architectural catalyst for all, an inspiration for future engagement and re-connection with our most precious environments.
Download Open Source Recipe here
We thank everybody for the unique, innovative and interesting contributions and we look forward to sharing the open source design recipes with the whole world. And we hope that everyone across the globe will enjoy the design ideas in their local nature, and make their own explorations of how to build better, cheaper, smarter and more sustainable temporary nature dwellings.
