In order to actively respond to the “double carbon” goal and explore the path of zero carbon building technology, the 2023 Delta Cup International Solar Architecture Design Competition with the theme of “Sunshine · Zero carbon architecture” was held in Beijing on December 4, 2023, and the winning works were announced. Zero carbon design project: Guangzhou Science and Education City Culture and Technology Museum, Zero carbon promotion project: Guangzhou Public Utility Technician College Community complex building two competition questions, combined with policy orientation, to create a green low-carbon concept of science and education city display window, invite global architecture and related professional colleagues to participate in the construction of zero carbon buildings. The competition attracted more than 700 teams to register and submit 248 works. After several rounds of evaluation by the expert panel headed by Academician Cui Kai and composed of top academic experts at home and abroad, 2 first prizes, 3 second prizes, 7 third prizes, 20 excellence awards and 30 finalists were selected. Among them, the works that won the first prize “Zero – Breathing Paradise” and “Wind · Well Garden” are from Tianjin University. The full list of winners can be found on the official website of the competition: The final evaluation will adopt the form of on-site defense to allow the finalists to better display the design content of the works, and also enable the evaluation experts to comprehensively evaluate the competition works. The 16 finalists presented their works through images, text, language and video, and answered questions from the panel of judges. By way of video conference, Academician Cui Kai, Professor Yang Jingwen and other ten judges went through 3 rounds of selection and discussion, and finally selected a total of 62 comprehensive awards of this competition.
The experts of the judging group agreed that the two first prize works have a good combination of low-carbon and green architectural design. Among them, the building “Wind · Well Garden” has a regular shape, and the house is tilted to the south side, which compresses the indoor energy use space and increases the utilizable area of photovoltaic. The side facing the lake is designed with an efficient public transportation system, and several cold alleyways are interwoven in the internal space, forming a rich and interesting space and guiding natural ventilation at the same time. “Returns-breathing Paradise” maintains the original integrity of the building itself, and uses vertical greening to achieve passive cooling of the building. The roof photovoltaic system has no impact on the greening and traffic of the original roof, and generates a continuous and comfortable shade corridor. The flow of traffic between the two buildings strengthens the connection between the two forms and increases the interest of the space.
Cui Kai, the leader of the competition judging group, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and national master of engineering survey and design, said that the two topics of this competition are: one is the energy-saving transformation of existing buildings and the improvement of building quality through green design; The other project is the science and technology museum on the lake, which is closely connected with nature. Both projects have strong regional and environmental characteristics, and are also suitable for targeted green building design work. We are delighted to see that the teams have put a great deal of effort into their work, and we are impressed by the fact that more technical details have been taken into account than previous entries. Green building has gradually become a more guiding design trend, and the discussion and application of new technologies continue to emerge in the works of students in the competition, which promotes the progress of China’s architectural technology. I hope that each year of the competition will bring us different surprises.