Microcosm instead of office desert
The Hawa Student Award 2023 was dedicated to repurposing. Solutions were invited to transform an office building into residential housing offering “space for a whole life”.
New living models require new spatial concepts. In cities, tenants increasingly look for an environment that offers them more than just housing. They want to live in sustainable buildings that enable a resource-efficient lifestyle and create a microcosm with everything they need for their daily life—such as shops, medical facilities, coworking spaces, communal areas, visitor rooms or a reception desk with services. As part of the “Hawa Student Award 2023”, students were asked to plan such a project in a former office building in Zurich. An assortment of residential stories, instead of a rigid spatial framework, gave them a great deal of freedom. These stories presented different types of housing and infrastructure needs, for which new solutions and creative concepts had to be found.
Winners
Impressions from the award ceremony
The winners of the Hawa Student Award 2023 were honored on March 2, 2023 at the Museum of Design Zurich.
Task
Task: Designing living environments
The Hawa Student Award 2023 was dedicated to repurposing. Solutions were invited to transform an office building into residential housing offering “space for a whole life”.
Read moreResidential stories
Two couples, a family of three, and two individuals talk about their various living arrangements. These five housing stories are the starting point of the design.
Seraina (40)
Seraina lives with her two children in a 3.5 room apartment with an additional room.
Hans (67)
Hans and his wife moved into a large senior apartment-share.
Phillip (48)
Philipp is Seraina’s ex-partner and lives in a single’s apartment.
Vera (23)
Vera is one of ten students sharing an apartment.
Luzia (54)
Vera is one of ten students sharing an apartment.
Recognitions
In the final round, the jury discussed and evaluated these six projects proposed by up-and-coming architects from Switzerland and Germany.
Participants
Hawa Student Award since 2010
Every two to three years since 2010 Hawa Sliding Solutions has been inviting architectural students in architecture from Switzerland, Germany and Austria to participate in an ideas competition. Each competition encourages forward-looking solutions to a challenge.
