Volume Zero launches international tiny-house design competition 2025

Volume Zero has opened Call for Ideas - Tiny House 2025, an international architecture competition seeking compact, site-responsive tiny-house concepts that prioritize sustainability and small-footprint living. The competition offers multiple design and student prize categories with a total prize pool listed around US$4,500, and it is aimed at architects, students, builders, and designers looking to test new approaches to tiny-house living.

The call asks entrants to justify site selection and submit an area statement along with their design proposals. Submissions should demonstrate how compact dwellings can work in urban or rural settings, and judges will evaluate proposals on their adaptability, material choices, and clarity of site reasoning. The rules emphasize practical application: entries need to explain how the design sits on a real site, how the area is allocated, and how the project responds to context and sustainability goals.

Registration runs on a rolling schedule with multiple early and standard periods and corresponding submission deadlines. The host registration page is the place to register and submit; the competition has also been shared across architecture competition aggregators to reach students and cross-disciplinary teams. The structure encourages a mix of professional and student participation, with a dedicated student prize to attract university studios and emerging designers.

For the tiny-house community, the competition functions as a platform for experimentation and exposure. Designers can test space-saving strategies, experiment with sustainable materials and assemblies, and record how small-footprint solutions perform across different site typologies. Students gain portfolio-ready work and potential recognition, while tiny-house builders and material innovators can spot new detailing and assembly concepts that translate into real-world prototypes.

Practical value is built into the brief: the need for a site justification and area statement pushes entries to think beyond conceptual renderings toward implementable designs. That makes submissions useful not just for winning prizes but for informing permits, construction strategies, and adaptation to local regulations. Cross-disciplinary teams—combining architecture, landscape, engineering, and sustainability expertise—are likely to produce entries that resonate with judges and with the wider tiny-house movement.

Volume Zero’s Call for Ideas - Tiny House 2025 is an ongoing opportunity for the community to publish ideas, push material and spatial innovation, and build networks across education and practice. Check the host registration page for exact deadlines and fees, plan a clear site strategy, and use the competition to convert compact theory into designs you can actually build or adapt.