For the purpose of encouraging everyone to take part in the 2050 Net Zero Building transition, raise public awareness on the topics of net zero buildings and sustainable environment development, the Architecture and Building Research Institute, Ministry of Interior along with the assistance of Taiwan Architecture and Building Center hosted, the first Net Zero Building Design Competition “Net Zero Building N Squared”. The competition seeks to inspire the architecture and design industry, as well as students to apply future sustainable and carbon reduction techniques in net zero building planning and design concept to increase building energy efficiency. Furthermore, the competition also encourages the industry to invest in carbon reduction techniques and widen public-private partnership in promoting net zero buildings development.
The competition is divided into the student and industry entry groups. The main theme of this year is the creative design of net zero building, using at least two types of net zero building techniques such as sustainable façade design, materials application, energy management, multi-power use, digital integration, and water and waste management, to develop a current or virtual building design concept. This idea encourages the youth and industry to infuse net zero building concept into architectural space and the overall design, in order to raise living environmental quality, management efficiency, and achieve the goals of ESG environmentally sustainable development, and net zero building.
The registration timeline for the competition was from May 17th to August 15th, and a total of 30 entries were entered. The evaluation process, by a jury panel made up of net zero building professionals, scholars, and related organizations, successfully selected this year’s high-quality entries.
The Award Ceremony was held on December 15th, at Da Ping Lin Building’s International Hall, and began after Director General Wang’s opening remarks. The judges announced and presented the 4 winners for the student group, one each for the gold, silver, bronze and honorable mention, and the 10 winners for the industry group, one each for the gold, silver, bronze awards, 4 honorable mentions, and 3 finalists. A forum also took place giving the opportunity for the winners to share their design concepts and the application of net zero building techniques, showcasing the fruitful results of this year’s competition. The event hosted a total of 56 participants and was covered by 6 media outlets.
The list of winners for the Net Zero Building Design Competition “Net Zero Building N Squared” can be found on the competition’s official website at https://nzebdesign.com/.