YAC – Young Architects Competitions – ​and Dartagnans launch TREE HOUSE MODULE, a competition of ideas aiming to design and realize a tree house system to put into the oneiric French castles of Vibrac, Mothe Chandeniers, Ebaupinay. A cash prize of € 15,000 (and the realization of the first-ranking project) will be awarded to the winners selected by an outstanding jury panel made of, among the others, Espen Surnevik, Matthew Johnson (DS+R), Giulio Rigoni (BIG), Tue Hesselberg Foged (Effekt Architects), Peter Pichler, Patrick Lüth (Snøhetta).

We all dreamt about it, designed it and longed for it. The luckiest ones owned one. For sure, few people can say that the tree house was not one of their greatest childhood aspirations.

In fact, the tree house is maybe one of the first and most shared archetypes of architecture. It is the shelter of childhood. It is the safe place. It is the stronghold where to feel independent and keep the adult world at a distance. It is an inaccessible place suspended between sky and trees. It is the scenery and projection of extremely exciting adventures.

Once children become adults, the tree house often turns into a distant memory or an unfulfilled dream. Among all adults, architects have an extraordinary privilege. They can build their own childhood desires.

This is the opportunity that Tree House Module offers to participants. This is the challenge that Dartagnans poses to architects. They will have to design and create their own concept of tree house.

This invitation goes beyond the mere architectural practice. It is actually an inner experience. This competition invites architects to rediscover through the folds of memory the moments spent imaging what their refuge would be like. Architects will evoke those days spent sketching it on sheets of paper. Consequently, through the language and knowledge of adults it will be possible to dream again of a world of silence brushed by the wind and populated by squirrels and birds.

Indeed, the tree house is more than a place. The suspended shelter is more than a space. The tree house is the materialization of a desire for adventure, a spurt of creativity, reconciliation with nature. It is a desire for peace and serenity that any adult in any part of the world has never stopped dreaming about.

> JURY

• Patrick Lüth (Snøhetta)
• Giulio Rigoni (BIG)
• Espen Surnevik
• Peter Pichler
• Matthew Johnson (DS+R)
• Tue Hesselberg Foged (Effekt Architects)
• Marco Lavit (Atelier Lavit)
• Romain Delaume (Dartagnans )
• Paolo Tranquillini (Starpool)
• Angelo Luigi Marchetti (Marlegno)

> PRIZES

1st PRIZE 8.000 €

2nd PRIZE 4.000 €

3rd PRIZE 2.000 €

2 GOLD MENTIONS 500€ each

10 HONORABLE MENTIONS

30 FINALISTS

> CALENDAR

30/03/2020 “early bird” registration – start

26/04/2020 (h 11.59 pm GMT) “early bird” registration – end

27/04/2020 “standard” registration – start

27/04/2020 (h 11.59 pm GMT) “standard” registration – end

25/05/2020 “late” registration – start

21/06/2020 (h 11.59 pm GMT) “late” registration – end

24/06/2020 (h 12.00 pm – Midday – GMT) material submission deadline