The winners of the Architecture at Zero 2015 design competition have been announced.
Teams of both students and professionals contributed entries to the contest, which is dedicated to the advancement of California Zero Net Energy (ZNE) building.
This year was the fifth edition of the event, and the task was to submit project plans that would develop the 113,300-sf Block 15 of the University of California, San Francisco Mission Bay campus into family-style student residential units over a ground floor of retail and community and support spaces.
Among the requirements, each project had to have 398,700 gsf of housing, 19,500 gsf of support services, and 774 beds in 523 units. Above all, each submission had to be as close to net-zero as possible, meaning it produces as much energy as it uses over the course of one year. A five-member jury evaluated the plans.
Student teams from the University of Cincinnati and Cornell University and a pro team from San Francisco’s EBS Consultants and AXIS Architecture + Design all won citation awards for their designs. San Francisco’s Mithun firm and Seattle’s Weber Thompson group each won honor awards. San Francisco’s BAR Architects earned a special recognition award.
Winners received up to $25,000 in prize money.
The University of Cincinnati's Transformer, a citation award winner. Redering courtesy University of Cincinnati and UCSF
Breeze Block, from Cornell University, was a citation award winner. Rendering courtesy Cornell University and UCSF
EBS Consultants and AXIS Architecture + Design won a citation award with Alveo. Rendering courtesy EBS Consultants and AXIS Architecture + Design and UCSF
Mithun won an honor award with Estuary. Rendering courtesy Mihtun and UCSF
BAR Architects' Mission Zero earned a special recognition award. Rendering courtesy BAR Architects and UCSF
Related Stories
| Dec 22, 2014
What Building Teams can learn from home builders' travails
Commercial and residential construction can be as different as night and day. But as one who covered the housing industry for nearly a decade, I firmly believe AEC firms can learn some valuable lessons from the trials and tribulations that home builders experienced during the Great Recession, writes BD+C's John Caulfield.
| Dec 22, 2014
Skanska to build Miami’s Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science
Designed by Grimshaw Architects, the 250,000-sf museum will serve as an economic engine and cultural anchor for Miami’s fast-growing urban core.
| Dec 22, 2014
Studio Gang to design Chicago’s third-tallest skyscraper
The first U.S. real-estate investment by The Wanda Group, owned by China’s richest man, will be an 88-story, 1,148-ft-tall mixed-use tower designed by Jeanne Gang.
| Dec 19, 2014
Zaha Hadid unveils dune-shaped HQ for Emirati environmental management company
Zaha Hadid Architects released designs for the new headquarters of Emirati environmental management company Bee’ah, revealing a structure that references the shape and motion of a sand dune.
| Dec 19, 2014
Chicago Architecture Biennial to hold 'Lakefront Kiosk Competition'
The first Chicago Architecture Biennial will take place from October 2015-January 2016, with a theme of "The State of the Art of Architecture."
| Dec 18, 2014
Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West to be recreated—with LEGO
Containing more than 180,000 LEGO bricks in 11 colors and 120 different shapes, the model measures eight by four feet and is made entirely of standard LEGO parts.
| Dec 18, 2014
11 new highs for tall buildings: CTBUH recaps the year's top moments in skyscraper construction
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat cherrypicked the top moments from 2014, including a record concrete pour, a cautionary note about high-rise development, and two men's daring feat.
| Dec 18, 2014
International Parking Institute and Green Parking Council collaborate with GBCI
The new collaboration recognizes importance of sustainable parking facility design and management to the built environment.
| Dec 18, 2014
Top 10 sports facilities of 2014: Designboom ranks the year's best projects
The list includes some of the year's epic stadiums, such as World Cup Stadium Arena de Amazonia in Manaus, Brazil, and smaller projects, like the Spordtgebouw Sports Centerin the Netherlands.
| Dec 18, 2014
In response to ultra-open and uber-collaborative office environments
Susan Cain’s bestselling 2012 book, "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking" has made an impact on how we understand our current workforce, recognizing that at least one-third of the people we work with are introverts, writes SRG Partnership's Susan Gust.
