A competition of ideas for students

Vimar has teamed up with Venice’s IUAV University to hold the first competition for architecture students on home automation design, entitled “Progettare domotico”. It attracted many students and clearly showed that the young architects of the future are interested in research and technological innovation. The competition involved designing or refurbishing a new family home using Vimar’s home automation solutions to manage the various features inside and outside the house. The jury selected four winners, rewarding those designs that successfully merged home automation and technology choices with architectural solutions, and the general integration of the project. The “Circular House” project by students from Milan’s Polytechnic took the top award jointly with “Tradizione e innovazione”, by a group from IUAV. Second and third places were scooped up by “Marvi” and “Assonanze” respectively, also by IUAV students. The winners took home a cash prize and the opportunity of working at the two architectural practices headed by Alfonso Femia and Toti Semerano, who were both jury members. “Circular House” by Lorenzo Manganello, Marco Mochetti and Thomas Villa, one of the joint winners, was successful mainly because of the pragmatic approach to home automation. The design is a double-story home that uses circular economy ideas in an actual building, focusing on energy efficiency, and the choice of building materials and construction technologies. The other joint winner - “Tradizione e innovazione” by Alessandro Caiffa, Giacomo Pasian and Gianluca Perin - saw the creation of a sustainable holiday resort in a river zone. The strength of this design was its innovative vision in which the use of home automation was critical to the structures functioning properly. “Marvi” by Filippo Cracco, Filippo Giancola and Robert Vicentini took home second prize because of its inherently futuristic idea. The design was for a home that, covering only a few square meters, can cater for different requirements and home-owner needs despite the lack of physical space. “Assonanze”, by Eugenia Cia, was designed for a residential complex and took home third prize for identifying, developing and describing those elements of innovation that best merge with the shapes and spaces of a traditional family home. The home automation installations are also key, using differing energy sources and strategies to save resources by exploiting Vimar home automation solutions.

 

 

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