Architecture studio Hooba Design Group has completed a brick-clad office building in Tehran, with a scooped-out central void to bring natural light deep into the building.
The Hitra Office and Commercial Building is located at a road intersection of the Valenjak neighbourhood of Iran's capital, and combines two floors of glazed commercial space with five red brick-clad office storeys.
The Hitra Office and Commercial Building was designed by Hooba Design Studio
For the local practice, two of the key aims of the project were to bring as much light as possible into the building and offer a public space back to the city.
Instead of taking the typical approach of filling the site and placing a light well in the building's centre, the Hitra Building's "void" has been moved to its southern edge, creating a scoop in the building that draws in light and overlooks a new public square.
The building's facade comprises tiered layers of brick. Photo is by Khatereh Eshghi
"Based on the built-up regulations and municipal laws of Tehran, each building has turned into a passive member in the city," Hooba Design Group founder Hooman Balazadeh told Dezeen.
"The main criteria of this project was to reevaluate the morphology of a typical office building to improve the quality of natural light and views without altering the optimum built area," he continued.
"The Hitra Building's morphology increases the surface area of the building in contact with the city and connects people to the office zone through the welcoming entrance."
The exposed sides of the bricks were painted turquoise to create a lenticular effect. Photo is by Deed Studio.
The paved public square in front of the building negotiates its sloping site with a series of stepped areas, with a staircase ascending to the commercial units and a ramp leading around to the office entrance in one side of the building.
The distinctive "second skin" of the building, created using a brick-clad steel frame, was designed to allow the glazed area of the building to be maximised while preventing overheating.
"The brick layer is designed as an attempt to not only include but also camouflage various elements within and behind," Balazadeh told Dezeen.
"The Hitra Building tries to have the minimum expression of different elements and materials in their surrounding environment and on a larger scale, the city," he continued.
The facade allows light to fill the interior. Photo is by Khatereh Eshghi
This brick skin gently steps outwards as it rises up the building, helping to break up its scale with a series of lintels indicating the floor plates.
Inside the offices, circulation is housed in the north-eastern corner, with larger meeting spaces placed close to the scoop in the facade to take advantage of the additional light and views it creates.
Construction productivity "has practically flatlined" over the past 25 years according to Nabr co-founder Bjarke Ingels, who explained how his housing startup intends to revolutionise the sector in an exclusive interview with Dezeen.
BIG founder Ingels, along with former WeWork executive Roni Bahar and former Sidewalk Labs model lab head Nick Chim, established Nabr with the aim of creating a "fundamental transformation of the [housing] industry".
Described as a "consumer-first housing company", Nabr aims to create a series of mass-timber apartment blocks using modular construction.
Nabr to apply design to "entire process" of creating housing
The company, which is starting construction of its first apartment block in San José in early 2022, believes that incorporating design, development and customised financing models will allow it to change how housing is created in the USA.
"Architects or designers are, in a way, the last ones to get involved [in housing] so it becomes very hard to be part of a more fundamental transformation of the industry," Ingels told Dezeen.
"This is basically an attempt to apply design, not just to the final product, but to the entire process that delivers our homes."
Top: Nabr is creating housing in the USA. Above: Bjarke Ingels (left) founded Nabr with Roni Bahar (centre) and Nick Chim (right)
The Nabr housing block in San José will be the first to be built with a cross-laminated timber structural frame that will be adapted for future planned developments.
Customisable apartments will be plugged into this structural shell, according to the company.
"Productivity in the construction industry has practically flatlined"
Nabr also aims to "expand to ultimately be involved in the entire supply chain". It believes that this, combined with its modular, structural system, will help to address some of the failures of the architecture and construction industries to become more efficient over the past quarter of a century.
"The productivity in the construction industry has practically flatlined," Ingels said. "Whereas in manufacturing in general, it's almost doubled over the past 25 years."
Nabr's first project will be in San José
"I know how hard my colleagues and I are working, so there seems to be something systemic," he continued.
"What we've tried to do with Nabr is to address that systemic inability to increase returns in terms of quality, environmental performance and attainability, that we see in almost every other sector but our own."
Nabr turning housing into a "consumer-facing product"
The founders describe Nabr as a "product-driven company" and believe that by thinking of apartments as products, they can transform housing in a similar way to how Apple's iPhone revolutionised the smartphone industry and Tesla is transforming the electric car industry.
"Unlike classic development, we're here to develop and refine and define architecture as a consumer-facing product," said Ingels.
"It's so demotivating or almost paradoxical that in almost all other fields, the things that we make many of have become better and better quality," he continued.
"What happens when we think about residential architecture as a product, where you have different product lines?"
The housing block will have a CLT structure
Although Nabr is aiming to create "middle-income housing", its first apartments in San José will have "prices starting in the high $700Ks". Named SoFA One, the block will have 125 homes.
"For the initial offering for the product, we're really coming in at the top of the market from a price point, but I would say substantially better product than any offering in the market," said Bahar.
Each apartment will have a large balcony space
He explained that this initial housing development is the first stage in its plan and that over time, the company will aim to improve its processes to reduce the cost of the housing it offers.
"The Tesla Roadster cost $98,000 and it can only go 100 miles, but it was an interesting car," Bahar said."But there's a limit of how many of those you can put in the market. So we have to hit the superior performance for that experience and then we will figure out how to get to a model three over time."
BIG will refine the design with each apartment block, with the aim of making improvements to functionality and construction.
"We will evolve and expand to apply this kind of compounded improvement and innovation that otherwise never happens for an architect," said Ingels.
"Normally with each building once we're done with it, we can register everything that we could have done better, and then say, well, too bad, because now we're doing something else."
Read on for an edited transcript of the interview with Ingels and Bahar:
Tom Ravenscroft: How does Nabr differ from other housing companies?
Bjarke Ingels: Nabr is basically an attempt to apply design, not just to the final result, but to the entire process that delivers our homes. Because architects or designers are, in a way, the last ones to get involved [in housing] so it becomes very hard to be part of a more fundamental transformation of the industry
I think one of the things we've seen during the pandemic, and this whole project was sort of conceived during the pandemic, is that the primary path to homeownership in the United States went from work to inheritance.
I think another thing that struck was that in cities in the United States, it takes the median income person 27 years to save up to 20 per cent downpayment on the median-priced home. That means that for the increasingly large middle class, the idea of getting to own your own home is becoming less and less attainable.
It's so demotivating or almost paradoxical that in almost all other fields, the things that we make many have become better and better quality. At a lower cost, and this is true for, you know, computers and washing machines and toys. They are becoming higher and higher quality at a lower and lower cost. But this is not true for our homes.
And then maybe one last thing that we've seen is that when it comes to sustainability, the environmental performance of the buildings that we make, as an architect, you can propose certain products that are available on the market, you can also design with certain principles.
But what you really need is the possibility of compounded innovation – growing bargaining power with the different manufacturers that provide the different products that end up becoming the constituent parts of the buildings that we make. This means that you can actually not just specify the best available currently in the marketplace, but through partnerships, you can push the boundaries and create better and better products.
So it was basically this idea of thinking about residential architecture as a product, where you have different product lines.
Tom Ravenscroft: So that's three advantages. Picking up on just the first one, you say architects are the last ones to get involved. So the aim of this is to get involved earlier.
Bjarke Ingels: Yes, actually to expand to ultimately be involved in the entire supply chain. All the way through to facing the consumer.
It is a product-driven company. Unlike classic development, we're here to develop, refine and define architecture as a consumer-facing product. In the first product offering, we will make architecture at a quality and environmental performance, functional and aesthetic performance, that vastly outcompetes anything that's out there today.
But also we will continue to evolve and expand to apply compounded improvement and innovation. That otherwise never happens for an architect, because each building we can register everything that we could have done better, and then say, "well, too bad, because now we're doing something else."
Tom Ravenscroft: So you are identifying a failure of the whole architecture industry. Do you think there's been a failure of architecture over the past 50 years to improve itself?
Bjarke Ingels: The productivity in the construction industry has practically flatlined. Whereas in manufacturing in general, it's almost doubled over the past 25 years.
I know how hard my colleagues and I are working. And I know that our competitors are as well. So there seems to be something systemic. And I think what we've tried to do with Nabr is to address that systemic inability to increase returns in terms of quality, environmental performance and attainability, that we see in almost every other sector, but our own.
Tom Ravenscroft: This seems like a very lofty aim. Is it achievable?
Roni Bahar: Absolutely. We can't think of real estate and solutions in a very short time span, you have to look over time. What systematic changes need to happen over a long period of time?
So when we looked at this, we said: "how do we get to a goal where we can provide the highest quality product for middle-income housing?" We need to start creating a process that's going to have certain phases to it, that in the long term, we can really change that trajectory. And that's, that's the purpose of it.
When you look at products, that have really been transformational and change how we feel or do things, I like to use Tesla and an iPhone.
Nobody cared about an electric car – there's been a lot of companies failed at getting electric cars going – people only cared about the electric car when it outperformed a gasoline car. And it was beautifully designed, it was a desirable product and an experience, right. And even though it started as a premium product, they reinvested and put capital into it and they were able to get to mass production and elevate the entire industry.
Tesla is never going to make enough cars for everybody. But it made it desirable. With the iPhone, it's the same thing.
So we are creating an unbelievable quality product and starting at the top of the market with it. For us, we're competing against single-family homes. So we need to create a product that is better than being in a single-family home. We can build a product that is superb, and quality for people who care about sustainability, who would want to have the kind of technology not only in an experience but understand what we're doing. And then we can build the tools to then take it to other places and create more product lines.
Tom Ravenscroft: This all sounds very good, but a lot of people have tried this before. So what actual things, like physical things, make this different?
Roni Bahar: First thing is, the failure we've seen before is that people try to do too much in too many places. They didn't focus on one market. That's the first.
Also, they sold directly to developers first, which means they're in the developer's business, which means the developer calls the shots. You are already in that developer system, you're in the developer system.
We're going straight to consumers. Once we prove that we can deliver the product then we can go and work with developers. So these are fundamentally important things.
Tom Ravenscroft: So do you have your own land?
Roni Bahar: We've raised the capital, we acquired land, not us, we did it through a separate vehicle from the company that buys land, we provide the service of entitlement design, development and sales.
Tom Ravenscroft: So the core idea is that you are in control of the whole process, the whole system, therefore, you can change the system by not being in it, is that right?
Roni Bahar: Yes. The last point would be that we're not tied to a specific product, we regionalize the product based on the supply chain and partner with that supply chain to improve their product.
We're using CLT on the West Coast. CLT doesn't work in Miami because of humidity and other reasons. So you have to create different products for different price points for different geographies.
Tom Ravenscroft: So tell me about the design of the first buildings that will go up on the West Coast. What do the actual buildings look like?
Bjarke Ingels: What we've tried to do in a way we've tried to learn from the things we've been involved in over the past two decades.
What we really can do to increase quality and lower cost is to be very smart about repetition. So, what we've developed is this building system that's primarily cross-laminated timber and has a kind of loft typology.
We are offering two feet higher ceilings than a typical condo, and we have long spans, which gives us flexible floor beds where we can plug in different kinds of finishes. The base building system, like let's say 90 per cent of the building substance, is always 100 per cent the same – like a universal standard.
Then within that, on the interiors, we are creating options that can be basically plugged into this framework.
I am a firm believer in outdoor space, when we did our, our first building in New York, it was kind of a battle to argue that in a residential building, balconies and terraces had value. I think, especially after the pandemic, there's a heightened awareness of the desirability of outdoor space, and we're in California.
So big outdoor terraces really become almost like an additional living room in your home. And those large balconies are designed in such a way that they create the exterior appearance of the building. We have the possibility by creating a small variation to create a unique building appearance of the product from one deployment to the other.
We'll have a growing amount of customisation choices. For the interiors, we'll have three to begin with. And then each time we deploy a new option, we'll aim towards adding more interior offerings.
So you can imagine five years down the line, you could have 20 different kinds of interiors that can effortlessly be plugged into this core platform. We can always respond to the local character to define different kinds of buildings.
Of course, a lot of the work that we're involved in typically, is this kind of extreme one-off projects, like Via, on the west side of Manhattan. They're highly boutique developments for the very high end. The way that developers, architects, engineers and contractors work is that they behave as if they are building each building for the first time.
But they somehow strangely, because of the systemic challenges of the industry, end up pretty much in the same place. So even though everybody's working with all of the challenges and disadvantages of doing something unique every time, they end up with something sort of ordinary.
We want to almost flip it, by being very systematic about trying to maximise the amount of repetition, we actually end up with something that is almost entirely customizable on the inside. And, and always entirely unique on the outside.
Tom Ravenscroft: So modular repetitive homes that have variety.
Roni Bahar: For some reason in the US people think that modular is lower quality. Modular is precision-designed, precision-built, it's a much higher quality.
Tom Ravenscroft: To the finances of this. It sounds like we've got a modular CLT frame with a kind of an interior that can be kind of put on into that and allowing people to have their own creativity. So it's going to be a better product, but is it going to cost equivalent or less?
Roni Bahar: So compared to the market, the initial offering for the product, we're really coming in at the top of the market from a price point, but I would say with a substantially better product than any offering in the market is that's the first thing.
Tom Ravenscroft: Is that the top line for medium-income homes?
Roni Bahar: No that's top of the line. There's no such thing as new construction that exists today for housing condos, that's called middle income, it does not exist. There's no magic wand to get there tomorrow.
That's going to take time. However, what we are doing through our financial offering is lowering the barrier to owning the best quality product. And then as we improve products and systems and create new constraints to get to more middle-income pricing, the financial offering that we've created allows that to kind of catch up over time.
Tom Ravenscroft: So this is the first building block?
Roni Bahar: Exactly the same way that Tesla Roadster costs $98,000. And it can only go 100 miles, you know, but it would be like an interesting car. But there's a limit of how many of those you can put in the market. So we have to hit the superior performance for that experience. And then we will figure out how to get to a model three over time.
Homebuilders in England have been told by the government that they must agree to fund the replacement of unsafe cladding on mid-rise blocks in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire.
UK housing secretary Michael Gove wrote to the "residential developer industry" to request that developers agree to "fund and undertake all necessary remediation of buildings over 11 metres that you have played a role in developing".
An estimated £4 billion is required to fix dangerous cladding found on mid-rise blocks following the deadly Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017. The move means that this cost will not be paid by leaseholders.
"No leaseholder living in a building above 11 metres will ever face any costs for fixing dangerous cladding," said Gove in a statement this afternoon.
The Grenfell Tower fire claimed 72 lives after flames spread rapidly across its cladding system
Ministers had already allocated £5.1 billion of public money to pay for the remediation of flammable facades on high-rise residential buildings – defined in England as those taller than 18 metres.
Many thousands of leaseholders in blocks shorter than 18 metres had previously only been promised government help with costs in the form of a loan scheme.
The government has now scrapped this scheme and committed to the building industry funding cladding work on blocks between 11 and 18 metres – typically from four to six storeys.
In his letter, Gove threatened housebuilders with being shut out of public contracts and funding, subjected to planning powers or pursued through the courts if they do not agree to "a clear, fully-funded plan of action" by early March.
"I am prepared to take all steps necessary"
If the industry does not agree to fund the work the government could seek to legislate to force builders to pay.
"I am sure you are as committed as I am to fixing a broken system," wrote Gove. "I want to work with you to deliver the programme I have set out."
"But I must be clear, I am prepared to take all steps necessary to make this happen, including restricting access to government funding and future procurements, the use of planning powers, the pursuit of companies through the courts and – if the industry fails to take responsibility in the way that I have set out – the imposition of a solution in law if needs be," he continued.
The government said it expects firms with annual profits from housebuilding of £10 million to contribute to the fund, but will make a final decision once talks with housebuilders have concluded.
That would cover significantly more developers than were subject to a levy brought in to raise £2 billion to soften the blow of cladding funding, which applies to around 30 companies with profits above £25 million.
Gove promised that leaseholders in blocks taller than 11 metres will not have to pay to fix dangerous cladding
"We will engage directly with government, but any further solutions must be proportionate and involve those who actually built affected buildings and specified, certificated and provided the defective materials on them," said Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of developer trade body the Home Builders Federation.
"As well as developers and government, other parties should be involved in remediation costs, not least material manufacturers who designed tested and sold materials that developers purchased in good faith that were later proved to not be fit for purpose."
Flammable cladding "primary cause" of Grenfell fire
Gove also told MPs that the government intends to amend the upcoming Building Safety Bill to protect leaseholders from the cost of fixing non-cladding safety defects, which have been uncovered at numerous blocks during facade inspections.
He also revealed that a new team has been set up within the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities dedicated to pursuing companies deemed to have contributed to the crisis by misselling products, cutting corners in building work or seeking to profit from the fallout.
The government made no mention of a solution for blocks shorter than 11 metres – a small minority of which are implicated.
Flammable cladding has been identified by a public inquiry as the "primary cause" of the rapid external fire spread across Grenfell Tower, where 72 people lost their lives.
In the aftermath of the blaze, it became clear that hundreds of other blocks across the country had similar cladding systems to Grenfell – and it later emerged that numerous other types of combustible building facades also posed a potential threat, with the government recommending their removal.
This led to disputes as building owners sought to push remediation costs onto residents, leaving hundreds of thousands unable to sell and therefore trapped in homes deemed unsafe.
Inquiry to scrutinise government role
Ministers are now explicitly laying the blame for the scandal at the door of the housebuilding industry, with a government press release published today declaring that developers "must pay to fix the cladding crisis that they caused".
It comes shortly before the Grenfell Tower Inquiry is due to examine the government's role in the factors that led to the disaster.
Employees of New York-based SHoP Architects have announced plans to form the US's first union of architecture workers since the 1940s in response to an alleged culture of "endless overtime and deadlines".
The group, which calls itself Architectural Workers United, filed an election petition with the National Labour Relations Board on 28 December, beginning the formal process of organising a union.
"We have grown accustomed to unsustainable practices such as endless overtime and deadlines which result in burnout and a lack of work-life balance," the letter reads.
"Pushed to the limits"
"We have accepted the lack of value of the architect within the building industry. We have normalised the exploitation of our time and our talent," it continues.
"Many of us feel pushed to the limits of our productivity and mental health. These conditions have become detrimental to our lives and in extension the lives of our families."
Above: SHoP employees have founded Architectural Workers United. Top image: SHoP Architects' supertall skyscraper 9 DeKalb seen in a render by SHoP
Architectural Workers United (AWU) aims to affiliate with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), an American union with almost 600,000 members in industries ranging from manufacturing and engineering to local government, defence and aviation.
The group has the support of advocacy group The Architecture Lobby, which issued a statement saying: "The Architecture Lobby stands in solidarity with Architectural Workers United at SHoP Architects and unequivocally supports their efforts to form a union in their workplace."
"As an organisation of architectural workers, we call on the firm's principals to voluntarily recognize the union and engage in good faith negotiations with the collective bargaining unit."
SHoP is "definitely not the worst"
SHoP is among the most highly respected architecture firms in New York, responsible for projects including the Barclays Center and The Brooklyn Tower.
It was founded in 1996 by Christopher Sharples, Coren Sharples, William Sharples, Kimberly Holden and Gregg Pasquarelli. The company name derives from the initials of their surnames.
The firm has approximately 135 employees. Around two-thirds have pledged support for unionisation.
Megan Peterson, who is among the founders of AWU, told Dezeen the ambition is not just to bring more equity and transparency to SHoP, but to provoke systemic change across the industry.
According to Peterson, SHoP employees can work between 50 and 80 hours a week. But she believes that conditions are even worse in many other New York firms.
"This is definitely not the worst," she said. "We hear horror stories from other New York offices that are much worse than ours. It makes us realise that the bar is so low in architecture."
"It's not a sustainable way of working," she continued. "People are getting physically ill and struggling with mental health. The turnover rate is high and the cycle just continues."
The decision to take action came in late 2020 when employees were working from home due to the pandemic.
"Once you remove the perks of the office environment, you start to you realise how many hours you work and how much it's affecting your life and relationships," said Peterson.
"I found myself sitting at my kitchen table 70 hours in one week and it was exhausting."
SHoP wants to empower its staff
SHoP has not directly responded to the claims made by its employees but it sent Dezeen a statement pointing to some of the benefits it currently offers staff. These include full health insurance, 30 days paid vacation a year and starting salaries of $60,000 plus bonuses for graduates.
"SHoP was founded to practice architecture differently and has always been interested in empowering and supporting our staff," it said.
"To secure that mission and future leadership for the firm, in March 2021, SHoP through the ESOP process became a 100-percent employee-owned company, furthering our shared commitment to a culture of innovation and the next-generation practice of architecture."
The first allocation of equity shares was distributed to all employees on 31 December, it said.
AWU hopes to meet with SHoP management soon to discuss next steps, although Peterson said that no plans had yet been made.
"We think that we're in a place where we can work together to do this," she said. "We don't want to tear down our office. Aside from the issues, we all like working here."
Other architects moving to unionise
Peterson said she is aware of "a handful of other firms in New York" who are moving to organise a union but have not gone public yet.
David DiMaria at IAMAW, the union that is welcoming AWU as an affiliate, told Dezeen that he has been approached by staff at several other architectural firms who are also looking to unionise.
He noted a general trend for unionisation among white-collar workers, pointing to tech companies and non-profit organisations as other sectors where working conditions are poor.
"Decades ago, the standards were high in a lot of these professions," he said. "But we've seen things develop to the point that standards are actually dropping below what we traditionally see as blue-collar work."
"When you look at how much money an architectural worker in New York puts into the schooling and licensure, how much time they spend on the job and what they get for it, there's a complete disconnect. Meanwhile, a diesel mechanic in New York with a couple of years training can easily be making six figures."
New legislation for architecture workers
DiMaria sees an opportunity to introduce new legislation that would give architectural workers more legal protection from exploitation, which could have an impact across the country.
"No one firm can fix these issues, which are endemic in this industry," he said. "If we really want to try to uplift this profession, we've got to think about our organising more broadly."
The US is the not only country where architects are exploring unionisation. In 2019, a group of architecture workers in the UK formed a grassroots trade union, United Voices of the World's Section of Architectural Workers (UVW-SAW), to tackle issues of unpaid overtime, unfair pay and harassment.
Read on to see Architectural Workers United's letter in full:
Dear Bill, Chris, Corie, Gregg, Angelica, Dana, and John,
We write this letter to inform you that the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, District 15, AFL-CIO (IAMAW) has been aiding us as architectural workers in our endeavor to form a union at SHoP. This will be the first union of architecture workers in the United States since the 1940s. Today, hopefully with your support and understanding, we are ready to do what SHoP has done so many times before and make history.
We have been working collectively and are now writing collectively to share our vision for a new phase in the partnership between the employees at SHoP and their management. As a group, we are committed to the success of our office, the advancement of our profession, and the improvement of our shared built environment. Motivated by a deep care for our firm and for our profession as a whole, we have decided to come together as a community to form a legal union. A solid majority of employees support this campaign and we are asking you today to honor the law, remain neutral, as well as collaborate with us by recognizing our union.
We have grown accustomed to unsustainable practices such as endless overtime and deadlines which result in burnout and a lack of work-life balance. We have accepted the lack of value of the architect within the building industry. We have normalized the exploitation of our time and our talent.
Many of us feel pushed to the limits of our productivity and mental health. These conditions have become detrimental to our lives and in extension the lives of our families. These concerns are the product of larger systemic issues within the discipline of architecture and are in no way unique to SHoP. From the moment we begin studying architecture we are taught that great design requires endless time and effort, and in turn demands the sacrifice of personal health and relationships. We are taught that architecture is a greater calling and regardless of how the client is willing to compensate us, we will perform our duty because it is critically important for the greater good.
SHoP did not create the challenges that are systemic to the discipline of architecture, but we believe that SHoP is the firm that can begin to enact changes that will eventually ensure a more healthy and equitable future for the generations of architects to come.
By organizing, we aim to harness the legislative and political power of our union to push for a fairer and more sustainable industry as well as work towards creating conditions that will allow SHoP to continue to grow and thrive.
We are embarking on a campaign to transform the profession and would like for you to join us. We believe it is in our shared interest to make the publicity around this event one of unity, not contention. We see the unionization of architecture not just benefitting us as employees, but all architecture professionals in this undervalued industry.
There is no one among us who is not proud to be a SHoPper; our desire to unionize comes from a place of deep affection and respect for each one of you. We believe our union will benefit SHoP and we are ready to take these next, historic, steps with you all.
In Solidarity,
Architectural Workers United
Together We Build
Dezeen promotion:metaverse platform Mona has launched Renaissance, a digital competition calling for designers, architects and artists to create new virtual worlds.
The competition tasks entrants with building their own metaverse focused around one or more of three themes: spaces to gather, spaces to display and spaces to perform.
Previous virtual worlds uploaded to Mona's 3D NFT art gallery include a Greco-Roman-themed pavilion in the clouds and a Blade Runner-style neon city.
Previous virtual worlds uploaded to Mona's 3D NFT art gallery include a Greco-Roman-themed pavilion
Mona hopes the event will prompt more designers to create interactive and social 3D environments for the metaverse, an emerging digital universe that exists in parallel to the real world.
"Humanity may soon spend more time in virtual worlds than in the physical world," said Matt Hoerl, COO and co-founder of Mona. "It is important that these virtual spaces are beautiful and habitable for all."
The competition tasks entrants with building their own metaverse
The spaces to gather category invites participants to create places intended for meeting and sharing ideas, while the spaces to display theme asks for areas for presenting artworks.
The third and final category called spaces to perform tasks entrants with designing an events space for live performances.
The entries should be focused around spaces to gather, spaces to display and spaces to perform
Designers can make their virtual worlds using whatever 3D modelling software they have, such as Rhino, Blender or Gravity Sketch. Their work will then be imported into Unity using Mona's Unity Template.
Final submissions must be made in the form of "unity packages" that can be easily exported and published to the Metaverse using Mona's online portal.
Designers can make their virtual worlds using Rhino, Blender or Gravity Sketch
Entries will be judged by a panel of industry experts, including Juan Benet, CEO of open-source research and development lab, Protocol Labs.
"Our judging will be centered around the utility of spaces, but the aesthetic interpretation is where you can let your imagination run free," explained the organisers.
Winners will be announced and published in February 2022
All entries must be submitted by midnight (PST) on 27 January 2022. Winners of the Renaissance competition will be announced and published in February 2022.
The top 18 virtual space designs will be minted as Non-Fungible-Tokens (NFTs) on the blockchain and bid on by Protocol Labs for three different prize amounts.
There are three grand prize amounts of $30,000, five top prizes of $10,000, and a further ten design prizes of $3,000.
Entrants must be over 18 and from any country across the globe
There are also 20 creator prizes up for grabs at $1,000 each and 100 submission prizes of $300. An additional $30,000 in community bonus prizes will be awarded.
All of the virtual worlds submitted to the competition can be minted and thus owned by their creator, regardless of whether they win one of the prizes or not.
Entries will be judged by a panel of industry experts
Entrants must be over 18, but can come from any professional background and from any country across the globe.
For more information on the competition and how to enter, or to view some exemplar virtual worlds, visit Mona's dedicated Renaissance website.
