CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

We are delighted to invite you to submit your examples of aerogel use in architecture, construction, refurbishment and monument preservation as built solutions or student projects. We are searching for the top realized projects internationally to showcase the best projects of architects, civil engineers or top project ideas of students from these fields. The best realized projects selected by our jury will be shortlisted for our Aerogel Architecture Awards ceremony hosted near Zurich at NEST Empa campus, which will give broad recognition to the projects. The projects will be published in relevant international magazines and portals. The award celebrates the best examples with regards to energy efficiency, unconventional solutions, translucent daylighting, high performing buildings solutions with use of superinsulating aerogel materials.

Last events AAA2023 Winner's press release : (in DE, EN and FR  22.06.2023) All 2023 submissions you can find also at RESULTS

 

CATEGORY
REALIZED SOLUTIONS / architects, civil engineers and their studios
STUDENT DESIGNS / architecture and civil engineering students

 

SCHEDULE
January 20, 2024     – Competition announcement and registration opens
June 14, 2024           – Project submission deadline (23:59 hours Zurich time)
July 12, 2024, 15:30 – Winners’ announcement event, Nest building, Empa Duebendorf (on-site and public stream)
                           

JURY
Ralf Kilian // Fraunhofer IBP / Preservation of Historic Monuments and Preventive Conservation / Germany
Beat Kämpfen // Kämpfen Zinke + Partner / Switzerland
Volker Herzog // Herzog-architektur / Germany
Manfred Wehdorn // Wehdorn architekten / Austria

Michael O´Connor //  Advapor / Advanced porous material consortium / France

 

PARTNERS
Agitec
FIXIT
IBIH
Hasit
Empa

 

CONDITIONS FOR SUBMISSION
Architectural and civil engineering studios can submit realized projects of renovation, refurbishment or new buildings located in any country and place. Students of architecture and civil engineering can submit their proposals and design studio projects with use of aerogel based materials. The award is communicated in English. Projects should be no older than three years. Highly encouraged are submissions of realized projects of renovation of protected buildings, refurbished buildings and new buildings where the energy efficiency was improved using aerogel insulation materials or translucency of silica aerogels is used. Winners of Realized solutions category will be invited to Switzerland for the announcement event, which will take place at the NEST building at the Empa campus in Duebendorf (Zurich). The winners of Realized solutions category will receive a memorial trophy and will be invited to introduce shortly their project within ca. 10 minutes to broader audience. Winners in Student category will be invited to present their project via video presentation.

 

THE HOW-TOs OF SUBMITTING YOUR PROJECT
Please send a ZIP or RAR file (max. 20MB) to email  (secretary) until deadline. Feel free to access files for download for poster layout (AI or PDF). For your submission, choose 6 digit identification number (0-9) please. You should try to avoid numbers in the sequence please, as well as same numbers or alphabet characters. Mark your poster and name ZIP file with your identification number.

  • 1 PDF A1 size poster (portrait) with plans, section, photographs and linear drawings (poster layout to download above)
  • 1-3 pcs JPEG - cover photos of the project, which will be used in media and webpages, high resolution
  • 1 PDF (DWG, DXF) linear vector detail of use of aerogel based insulation (+ on the poster), linear technical drawing with emphasized aerogel part (Blue RGB – 95,183,215) and list of materials, photos of detail if available. Editable format is welcomed for the possibility of later publication.
  • 1 DOCX, description of the project, ca. 300 words
  • Fill-in please the online registration form (or if it is not working for you, send us please the Excel file of Registration form as an attatchment to michal.ganobjak@empa.ch). Send by email the ZIP file with selected details on aerogel use in your project, description with ca. 300 words of the project. Text, picture and detail can be placed also on the poster.

* with submission you agree with the publication of the project and confirm, that you took care about property rights for images, graphics and drawings, which are part of your submission.

 

CRITERIA OF EVALUATION

  • Preservation of appearance in case of cultural heritage
  • Energy efficiency concept
  • Originality of the solution

 

AWARD
Winners in category of Realized solutions will receive an invitation to present their projects at the Awards event, a trophy, a certificate and broader public recognition, including publication of their project. Winners in Student category will have possibility to present online.

Student category will be additionally awarded with financial prize:
        1st place – 1500 CHF (ca. 1500 €)
        2nd place – 1000 CHF
        3rd place – 500 CHF
        Honorable mention – 250 CHF (if jury decides)

 

AEROGEL APPLICATION WEBPAGE
with selected materials types and projects of aerogel building applications.
http://aerogelapplications.org

 

SURVEY ON AEROGEL USE IN BUILDINGS (voluntary)
Please participate in our survey on aerogel building applications (DE/ENG) with your project. The form can be filled-in even if the project will be not submitted to the competition.
https://aerogelapplications.limequery.com/437783

 

ARTICLE ON AEROGEL APPLICATIONS IN BUILDINGS 
Michal Ganobjak, Samuel Brunner, Jannis Wernery,
Aerogel materials for heritage buildings: Materials, properties and case studies,
Journal of Cultural Heritage, Volume 42, 2020, Pages 81-98, ISSN 1296-2074,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2019.09.007.

NEW ARTICLE ON TRANLUCENT WALLS, WITH AEROGEL GLASS BRICKS
Michal Ganobjak, Wim J. Malfait, Janis Just, Marcel Käppeli, Francisco Mancebo, Samuel Brunner, Jannis Wernery,
Get the light & keep the warmth - A highly insulating, translucent aerogel glass brick for building envelopes,
In. Journal of Building Engineering, Volume 64, 2023, 105600, ISSN 2352-7102, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2022.105600.

 

LINKS TO REFERENCES OF THE PARTNERS
Agitec - reseller and producer of products with aerogel // https://agitec.ch/referenzen/index.php
FIXIT - aerogel render Fixit 222,  https://www.fixit-aerogel.com/referenzen  // all insulation renders https://www.fixit.ch/referenzen?maingroup=169
IBIH - producer of aerogel materials, http://www.ibih.cn/supply/cp/
Hasit - aerogel render system, https://www.hasit.de/referenzen?q=aerogel  // all renders https://www.hasit.de/referenzen
Empa - laboratory 312 - Building Energy Components and Materials // https://www.empa.ch/web/s312/research

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