HOME
The Home Competition is hosted by Duo Dickinson, architect, writer and educator. It is an international free and open competition co-sponsored by Building Beauty, with the participation of students from University of Hartford, San Francisco University, Alfred State College, Ball State University and Universidade do Vale do Itajaí in Brazil. Individuals are also welcome to participate. For more information, please contact Karen Erickson at kerickson.duos@gmail.com.
Home Competition 2025
HOME is an international design event that explores the universal idea of home. Conceived by Building Beauty Faculty Member Duo Dickinson, FAIA, the premise of HOME is for students to design their ideal home, exploring what is meaningful to them in how they want to live, and then creating a design of a home that manifests those values and visions on a real site somewhere in the world.
The home: its universality, its deep idiosyncrasy, its protection, its public face, its intimacy, its dependence on culture and context; the largest clothing we wear, the most expensive thing we may own or pay for, the most valuable asset many of us have, and the greatest liability. We are all experts on our own home: its program is of and by and for us.
HOME 2021 Competition Final Presentation!
Passcode: #+C$Wu2e April 4, 2021
The Winners
The 2019-20 Event
This year students from SUNY Alfred State College in New York, University of Hartford in Connecticut, and the University of San Francisco participated with Duo Dickinson in Building Beauty’s HOME competition. The final presentation is here.
The 2018-19 Event
This year students from SUNY Alfred State College in New York, University of Hartford in Connecticut, and the University of San Francisco participated with our Building Beauty students in Sorrento. Following are the submissions made by students.
Carlina Chung, University of San Francisco, Craft Home Award
John Kileen, Building Beauty, Vision Home Award
Randy Begin, University of Hartford, Place Home Award
AgaJean Sarno, SUNY Alfred State College, Plan Home Award
Ankit Jadhav, Building Beauty, Outside Critic Award, Honorable Mention
Vianey Jimenez, University of San Francisco, Honorable Mention
Matthew Mejia, University of San Francisco, Honorable Mention
Brianna Swartz, SUNY Alfred State College, Honorable Mention
Caleb Boyce Wright, SUNY Alfred State College, Honorable Mention
Connor Rooks, University of San Francisco
Allison Linne, SUNY Alfred State College
Reed Brodsky, SUNY Alfred State College
Anushka Kubsad, Building Beauty
Christian Azana, University of Hartford
Fernando Yihan Vianey, University of San Francisco
Zachary Davis, SUNY Alfred State College
Alexander Pattison, SUNY Alfred State College
John Hargrave, SUNY Alfred State College
The 2017-18 Event
The event connected students and educators from three different institutions on three coasts and two continents: the Building Beauty program in Sorrento, Italy, and in the US the University of Hartford in Connecticut, and the University of San Francisco in California. It took place in March and April 2018, and included over 100 project reviews written by 15 critics from around the world.
The projects were presented by Duo in an interactive live webcast where students from all three institutions participated. As part of the webcast, Duo also spoke about the primal importance of home as a basic human need, and its special significance in architectural practice today.
All Entries
Live Session Videos
2017-18 Winning Entries
Critics Prize
Ana Jancar
Building Beauty
Sorrento, Italy
"I grew up in a single-family house and I might want to live in a house one day again. But I realized that at this point in my life my ideal home is an apartment. As I am planning to spend the summer working in Berlin I have explored what a dream home would mean for me there. It is a simple but cozy attic apartment with a roof terrace, overlooking the canal on one side and an internal courtyard on the other. Its many windows fill it with light. The old wooden-boards floor and the flower pots placed all around give it a sense of belonging."
Book Prize
Jan-Hendrix Hohnk
University of Hartford
Connecticut, USA
“I am from Germany, and this house is located at the lake I grew up with in my hometown. It is inspired by boathouses and lake houses in South Africa. I thought it would be beautiful to live in a house like this and designed it for the competition.”