Design of the Future. Best SunRoof Project 2021: results of the international competition for architects

Meet the winners of the international competition ‘Design of the Future. Best SunRoof Project 2021’. The winner in the ‘house of the future’ category is architect Dominik Gomółka with his Resilient House design. The top prize in the ‘carport of the future’ category goes to architect Miłosz Mleczko.

The aim of the competition, organised by SunRoof - an international startup creating solar roofs and technology for intelligent energy management, is to popularise sustainable architecture and smart, environmentally-friendly solutions. In this year's edition, participants faced the task of designing a house or carport of the future with a SunRoof solar roof using BIMobject and the Grenton Smart Home System.

The international jury was composed of: The international jury composed of: Lech Kaniuk - SunRoof, Stefan Gullgren - Swedish Ambassador to Poland, Michał Derc - BIMobject, Bartłomiej Gierszyn - Grenton, Ivana Kildsgaard - Tengbom, Agnieszka Zielińska - Scandinavian-Polish Chamber of Commerce, Daniel Cieślik - Anta Architekci studio, Natalia Chylińska - Builder Polska, Weronika Konior - Architektura-murator, Wojciech Rynkowski - Extradom, Ireneusz Polaczek - nowoczesna STODOŁA, Jacek Jakubowski - HouseCollection, Krzysztof Sołoducha - Sztuka Architektury, Michał Pierzchalski - Architektura.info, evaluated the submitted designs from the technical, visual and aesthetic point of view.

The jury awarded the main prizes and honorary mentions in two categories: ‘house of the future’ and ‘carport of the future’.

“It is amazing how exceptional and unique the designs for the houses and carports turned out to be. I congratulate the winners and thank all the participants for their inspiring ideas and creativity in developing the Design of the Future. I am glad that the bold and uncompromising approach to sustainable design contributes to a faster transition of the world to clean energy,” says Lech Kaniuk, co-founder and CEO of SunRoof.

“This year's winners have demonstrated an extremely interesting approach to the theme of Design of the Future. Both the house and carport designs contained unconventional solutions, and the winning designs impressed with their intelligent combination of ecology and modernity. What caught my attention the most was the refined design and the clear and neatly executed visualisations. It's nice to see such a variety of designs reflecting a single theme. Congratulations to all the winners!,” says Michał Derc, Team Manager, BIMobject.

The best house of the future design: competition results

The winner of the main prize (EUR 4,000 and a 3-hour consultation with BIMobject specialists) in the ‘house of the future’ category is architect Dominik Gomółka for his Resilient House design.

The innovative house design addresses the theme of resilience to meet the challenges of the future, focusing on energy self-sufficiency, new lifestyles and resisting the effects of climate change. It uses natural building materials, such as charred wood. The overall design creates an austere, minimalist and elegant form, balanced with dark, warm wood and natural stone.

“It was an interesting challenge to design a house, the initial idea of which is to match the selected solutions in terms of technology, construction materials and interior climate. Filling such a ‘system’ with the functions that every house must provide from the beginning gets you thinking about the relationship with the environment, sun, shade and different intensities for each room. In the future I would like to develop the ideas from the House of the Future and actually apply them in practice,” - says Dominik Gomółka, the author of the winning design for the House of the Future.

As Dominik Gomółka emphasises, a strong emphasis is placed on the use of a uniform SunRoof solar roof. The design also uses such solutions as passive skeleton external walls, planned as prefabricated panels, and specific solutions for greenhouses and skylights ventilating the roof.

“Dominik Gomółka's design was one of my favourites from the beginning. Preparing a concept of an elegant and modern house is just one step; filling it with content and preparing a coherent and carefully elaborated design is much more difficult. In this case, the architect was very successful,” - says Wojciech Rynkowski, Senior Communication Specialist, Extradom.pl.

Distinction in the ‘House of the Future’ category was awarded to The House Of The Future design by architect Talal Ammouri. The competition proposal presents the concept of a net positive energy house, created using artificial intelligence technology. The starting point for its creation was to find the optimal orientation of the roof so as to maximise solar energy generation based on a specific geolocation.

Best carport design of the future: competition results

The Grand Prize in the category ‘carport of the future’ in the amount of EUR 2,000 was awarded to the architect Miłosz Mleczko for his Versatile Carport design.

he combination of innovative solar technology and natural, recycled materials ensures that the carport blends in perfectly with houses of different architectural styles and historic buildings.

“In my work, I tried to answer the question of whether there is still room for photovoltaics in spaces where there is no room for modern design, let alone for chaotic installations. I have in mind traditional and historic buildings. The result of these considerations is a carport design that fits in with the natural context and is versatile in terms of its adaptation to traditional and historic buildings. Carefully selected parameters of the SunRoof roof (southern exposure, appropriate angle, large surface area) mean that the carport generates surplus energy, securing half of the electricity demand of a medium-sized traditional house,” says Miłosz Mleczko, author of the winning design of the carport of the future.

An honorary mention in this category went to Iga Soczawa for her Carport Pro design. This is the second time the architect has been recognised in a competition organised by SunRoof. In the last year's edition, she won a distinction for her design of the house of the future.

In the latest edition of the competition, Iga Soczawa proposed a carport that becomes a multifunctional station for parking and charging a car. She combined advanced technologies with a traditional wooden structure, paying tribute to natural materials. The aim was also to achieve the greatest possible versatility of the object, which will look great in any environment, both modern and historic.

Congratulations to the competition winners, and thank you to all the participants for taking part and presenting an ecological vision of the house and carport of the future.

HONORARY PATRONAGE: The Embassy of Sweden in Poland

PARTNERS: BIMobject, Anta Architekci studio, Grenton Smart Home, The Association of Polish Architects, Scandinavian-Polish Chamber of Commerce, Tengbom

MEDIA PARTNERS: Architektura.info, Architektura-murator, Builder Polska, Extradom, HouseCollection, nowoczesna STODOŁA, Sztuka-Architektury.pl

More information on the winning projects can be found at: contest.sunroof.se