By Monica Arellano | Translator Jiang Yao

Research and design lab SPACE10 has announced the winners of its first-ever global design competition. The competition, which aims to re-imagine home environments using AI, received more than 250 entries from around the world. A jury of 10 globally renowned architects, designers, AI artists, journalists and creatives reviewed the submissions and selected four winners.

The jury is made up of globally renowned architects, media and AI artists, Such as Tim Fu (Architect at Zaha Hadid Architects), Helen Job (Head of Research at SPACE10), David Basulto (CEO and founder of ArchDaily), Nick Jeffries (Senior Expert at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation), Javier Torner (Global Solutions Department, UN-Habitat), Mawuena Tendar (co-founder of Standard Deviation), Dragon Li (editor-in-chief, Design Boom), Asuka Kawanabe (co-journalist for newspapers such as Wired and Forbes), Dominique Petit-Frere (co-founder and creative director of Limbo Accra) and Linus Karlsson (chief creative officer of IKEA Sweden).

"We are delighted to have received a large number of entries from four continents and a wide range of disciplines. The results truly demonstrate the potential of emerging AI tools, enough to enable new, diverse and hopeful visions of the future at a time when we need to imagine new ways of living. "Designing for the Future in a Harsh Environment", submitted by Kedar Deshpande, won the top overall prize from the jury. The entry exemplifies the potential of human collaboration with AI, envisioning a resilient and imaginative touchable way of life through design." - Ryan Sherman, Creativity & Strategy, SPACE10

In the past year, generative AI tools have created opportunities for millions of people to see future worlds beyond what we thought possible. Part competition and part open source research, the initiative encourages participants to take this opportunity to play with their imaginations and create visual concepts of future homes, communities and cities to help address the challenges of everyday life. The selected entries are presented below.

[Winning Proposal] :

▲ Designing for the Future in Harsh Environments/Kedar Deshpande (Experience Designer) USA

In the ecosystem I designed for, ChatGPT proved to be valuable in researching renewable home design, providing insights related to the future use of natural materials, bioadaptable architecture and disaster resilient design. These were used as seeds of inspiration to conceive structures in Midjourney. "Designing for the Future in a harsh environment" is a resilient concept for living. It combines locally sourced materials, such as sand and clay, with natural fibers to create biocomposites that have thermal insulation and are suitable for modular structures. The house achieves off-grid energy independence through the way solar energy, hydrogen producing gardens and piezoelectric devices are integrated into the building's structural components.

"The proposal creates a harmonious connection between the design and the environment, combining semi-arid features to create an integrated architecture that resists extreme temperatures and protects the ecosystem." -- Javier Torner, Global Solutions Department, UN-Habitat

[Shortlist] :

▲ Resilient Future: Plant Pods/Branden Collins (Interdisciplinary designer) USA

The Plantpod is a renewable, inflatable, wearable home. The outside of the pod is covered with a film of algae that captures solar energy to power the home and produce all the electricity it needs. The rainwater harvesting system is able to collect and filter water for use by the home or the wearer during their journey. The design prioritizes portability and modularity - enabling it to act as a wearable protective suit when not being used as a self-sustaining dwelling. The scheme is the result of a collaboration with Midjourney and ChatGPT.

"The authors challenge conventional answers to the housing crisis and place themselves in a imagined future. In this future, we must embrace a nomadic way of life that coexists with nature rather than extracts it. A whole new way of life is imagined, and the scheme visualises outputs that cannot be fabricated today but seem plausible and hopeful." -David Basulto, CEO and founder of ArchDaily

▲ Symbiotic Future: House of the Womb: Decolonizing Nature/Takbir Fatima (architect) and Abeer Fatima (Interior designer) India

"Rather than using an artificial building system that cannot be recycled, Womb House is meant to be a soft spatial carving within the natural structure. The imaginary cave provides a safe, sheltered environment without consuming too much energy or producing harmful emissions and construction waste. The Womb House uses natural cooling and ventilation to let in sunlight, and has a semi-open courtyard for vegetation to grow and interact with people. The proposal is also the result of a collaboration between Midjourney and ChatGPT.

The graphics are of high quality and the visuals are stunning. The architecture demonstrates complex spatial relationships and communicates a planned stance on community life. Numerous interior scenes showcase different functional configurations and lifestyles. The presentation of material systems and forms also breaks with the traditional architecture we are familiar with." - Tim Fu, designer, Zaha Hadid Architects

▲ Collective Future - The City After the Flood/Gustavo Jimenez (Architect) Spain

"The City after the Flood" is a vision of alternative, symbiotic and high-density collective living. The scheme is constructed using materials extracted from buildings and houses destroyed by the flood. The waste management network will recycle and sort materials, reducing environmental pollution. At the same time, planning methods will be developed for the relocation and reconstruction of historic buildings, as well as the reuse of damaged structures. New wooden infrastructure will be built with little support to keep land free and reduce impact.

"This is the only urban project to showcase a creative material system that combines the use of biomaterials with forms and assembly outside the box. The graphic expression of the scheme has a similar visual language, creating a cohesive project." - Tim Fu, designer, Zaha Hadid Architects

The shortlisted proposals are currently on display at Copenhagen's SPACE10 gallery as part of Design for the Age of artificial Intelligence. The exhibition explores whether recent advances in artificial intelligence can help us design a better home for people and the planet. SPACE10 collaborated with Copenhagen-based artist and design duo Wang & Soderstrom on the exhibition design, which showcases four speculative projects proposed by different design studios. Using AI tools as a partner, SPACE10 looks at the future of furniture, product and architectural design - rethinking design archetypes and the materials we use.