Research and design lab SPACE10 announces the winners from their first ever global design competition to reimagine home — using AI. With over 250 entries from around the world, a panel of 10 globally renowned architects, designers, AI artists, journalists, and creatives reviewed the submissions, and selected four winners.
The jury panel consisted of globally renowned architects, media, and AI artists such as Tim Fu (Designer at Zaha Hadid Architects), Helen Job (Head of Research at SPACE10), David Basulto (CEO & Founder of ArchDaily), Nick Jeffries (Senior Expert at Ellen MacArthur Foundation), Javier Torner (Global Solutions Division at UN Habitat), Mawuena Tendar (Co-Founder of Standard Deviation), Dragon Li (Editor-in-Chief of Design Boom), Asuka Kawanabe (Freelance Journalist for Wired, Forbes, and others), Dominique Petit-Frère (Co-Founder and Creative Director of Limbo Accra), and Linus Karlsson (Chief Creative Officer, IKEA of Sweden AB).
We were elated to have such a large number of entries from four continents, and a variety of disciplines. The results truly show the potential of emerging AI tools to allow for new, diverse, and hopeful visions of the future, in a time that requires us to imagine new ways of living. Designing for the Future in Harsh Environments, by Kedar Deshpande and awarded the highest overall award by our jury, exemplifies the potential of human-AI collaboration to envision a resilient, imaginative and accessible way of living that is regenerative by design.
— Ryan Sherman, Creative & Strategy, SPACE10
Over the past year, generative AI tools have created the opportunity for millions of people to visualise worlds beyond those we ever thought possible. Part competition, part open-source research, Regenerative Futures encouraged play and imagination to create visual concepts of future homes, communities, and cities to help address the challenges facing everyday life. Read on to find out about the selected proposals.
WINNER
Designing for the Future in Harsh Environments / Kedar Deshpande (Experience Designer) United States
ChatGPT proved valuable in researching regenerative home design within the ecosystem I was designing for, providing insights into the future of utilising natural materials, bio-adaptive architecture and disaster-resistant design. These were used as seeds to envision structures within Midjourney. Designing for the Future in Harsh Environments is a resilient home concept. It combines locally-sourced materials such as sand and clay with natural fibres to create biocomposite materials that provide insulation and are suitable for modular construction. The dwelling achieves off-grid energy independence by integrating solar, hydrogen-generating gardens, and piezoelectric devices into the home’s structural components.
The proposal creates harmony between design and environment, incorporating the semi-arid characteristics to build an integrated architecture that protects against extreme temperatures and preserves ecosystems.
— Javier Torner, global solutions division, UN-Habitat
FINALISTS
Resilient Futures: Plant Pods / Branden Collins (Interdisciplinary Designer) United States
Plant Pods is a proposal for a regenerative, inflatable, and wearable home. The exterior of the pod is covered in an algae film that captures solar energy, generating all of the electricity needed to power the home. A rainwater harvesting system collects and filters water for use in the home or for the wearer on the go. The design prioritises portability and modularity — when not in use as a self-sustaining dwelling, it acts as a wearable, protective garment. It was Designed in collaboration with Midjourney and ChatGPT.
The author challenges the traditional answers to the housing crisis and puts themselves into a future where we have to embrace a nomadic style that moves away from extraction and to co-living with nature. A radical new way of living is imagined, and the prompt visualises something that couldn’t be fabricated today but seems plausible, and hopeful.
— David Basulto, Founder and Director of ArchDaily
Symbiotic Futures: WombHome (Vientre Materno): Decolonizing Nature / Takbir Fatima (Architect) y Abeer Fatima (Interior Designer) India
Instead of artificial construction systems that cannot be recycled, WombHome proposes a gentle carving of space within natural structures. This imagined cave provides shelter and safety, without consuming excess energy or creating harmful emissions and construction waste. WombHome is naturally cooled and ventilated, lets in sunshine, and features semi-open courtyards for vegetation to grow and cohabitate with humans. Designed in collaboration with Midjourney and ChatGPT.
The image quality is extremely high and visually stunning. The architecture shows complex spatial relationships and informs a programmatic stance towards communal living. The numerous interiors showcase different configurations and ways of living. Material system and form breaks from the traditional architecture we see.
— Tim Fu, architectural designer, Zaha Hadid Architects
Colective Futures - City After the Flood / Gustavo Jimenez (Architect) Spain
City After the Flood is an alternative, symbiotic and densified vision of collective living. These post-flood cities would be built using materials extracted from buildings and homes wrecked by flooding. A waste management network would recover and categorise materials, reducing environmental contamination. Plans would be made to relocate and rebuild historic buildings, alongside ways to reuse damaged structures. New wooden infrastructures would be built with few supports to keep the land free and reduce the impact.
The only urban project to show a creative material system that merges biomaterial usage with form and assembly that is outside the box. Images feature similar visual language that creates a cohesive project.
— Tim Fu, architectural designer, Zaha Hadid Architects
The finalists’ AI-generated visions of future homes and cities are now exhibiting at SPACE10 Gallery in Copenhagen as part of Design in the Age of AI. The exhibition investigates if recent advancements in AI can help us design a better home for people and the planet. SPACE10 partnered with Copenhagen-based artist and design duo Wang & Söderström on the exhibition design, showcasing four speculative projects presented by different design studios. Approaching AI tools as collaborative partners, SPACE10 looks at the future of furniture, product and architectural design — rethinking design archetypes and the materials we use.
For more visit SPACE10.
