Press Release
No Footprint Wood House Residential Architecture by Oliver Schutte Receives the Platinum A' Design Award in Sustainable Products, Projects and Green Design
Oliver Schutte recognized for sustainable products, projects and green design by the international grand jury of the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 21, 2025 /DesignNewswire/ No Footprint Wood House Residential Architecture by Oliver Schutte, designed for A-01, has been granted the Platinum A' Design Award in the Sustainable Products, Projects and Green Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The result belongs to the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition and was reached through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who scored anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
The Platinum A' Design Award Explained
The Platinum A' Design Award is recognized for honoring designs that stand at the forefront of creativity and innovation. It is the highest accolade bestowed by the A' Design Awards, acknowledging works that blend remarkable innovation with impactful societal contributions. These designs not only showcase exceptional artistic and technical proficiency but also highlight their creators' commitment to advancing the boundaries of art, science, design, and technology. Recipients of this award are celebrated for their role in shaping the aesthetics and trends of our time, contributing significantly to the enhancement of quality of life and promoting sustainable development.
More About No Footprint Wood House Residential Architecture
The No Footprint Wood House is located along the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Its bioclimatic design integrates with the surrounding lush tropical forests and natural habitat. The project forms part of the multi-award winning No Footprint House series. Climate-responsive building variations are based on passive design strategies. Industrial building techniques and prefabricated components are combined with locally harvested and regenerative construction materials. The project promotes integral sustainability in terms of its social, economic, environmental and spatial performance.
About Oliver Schutte
I was educated as an architect, which is a profession that naturally interacts with a lot of other professionals who are related to the process of planning and building. Through personal drive and external influences, I started to look way beyond that group of people to think about development in a broader and global sense. I was lucky to work with a series of masters and colleagues whom I admire and who encouraged me in pursuing that path. My own office now focuses on breaking those boundaries of single professions or perspectives in order to co-create through our interdisciplinary work methodology.
Award Record
This recognition makes Oliver Schutte a winner of 3 A' Design Awards. The awards were granted between the 2019 - 2020 and the 2024 - 2025 editions of the A' Design Award & Competition.
About the A' Sustainable Products, Projects and Green Design Award
The A' Sustainable Product Design Award is an international design competition recognizing good sustainable products by leading designers and brands worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to sustainable product designers, green product manufacturers, eco-friendly product brands and industrial designers from all countries. Typical entries include sustainable projects, environment friendly designs, recycled, upcycled and bio-degradable products. The awarded sustainable product designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/sustainable-product
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/164868
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/164868
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!164868
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/276201
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.a-01.net/
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- No Footprint Wood House Residential Architecture
- Function
- Residential Architecture
- Category
- Sustainable Products, Projects and Green Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Sustainability
- Colors
- Saddle Brown, Sienna, Gray and Peru
- Images
- 5
- Client
- A-01
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Oliver Schutte
- Country
- Costa Rica
- Recognition
- Platinum A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2024 - 2025
- Design ID
- #164868
Credits
- Image Credits
- A-01 / Fernando Alda
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- The No Footprint Wood House is located along the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Its bioclimatic design integrates with the surrounding tropical forests and natural habitat. The project forms part of the ongoing No Footprint House series. Climate-responsive building variations are based on passive design strategies such as site-specific positioning and the use of natural resources. Industrial building techniques are combined with locally harvested and regenerative construction materials.
- Inspiration
- The No Footprint Wood House is based on the some of the history of prefabricated housing schemes in distant locations, such as the Maison Tropicale by Jean Prouve or the Dymaxion House by Buckminster Fuller. The project is also based on a roadmap to level carbon emissions Costa Rica. In this context, the modular building design options provide individual home owners with a variety of opportunities to contribute to the collective goal of balancing carbon emissions.
- Research
- Costa Rica has shifted from a strategy of sustainability to regenerative development. This condition creates numerous implications for housing. In this context, the No Footprint Wood House drives innovation through the development and incorporation of renewable and locally sourced materials in combination with passive design strategies and local energy production. The project is optimized through industrial and prefabricated building techniques, the first of its kind in Central America.
- Challenge
- The main challenge of the No Footprint House series, including the No Footprint Wood House as an expression of its ongoing material development progress, is to unite a broad variety of entities in a joined multistakeholder approach. Such broadness and systemic thinking are required to find solutions for some of the greatest challenges of our time, which includes the decarbonization of all sectors that significantly contribute to global carbon emissions, proposing concrete actions and solutions.
- Realization and Technology
- The different modulations of the No Footprint House series are based on a three-by-three-meter spatial grid layout. Spaces can be configured by the clients according to the personal necessities and budgets. In the case of the wooden house, the specific client asked for two separate private areas of two levels each on both sides of the overall structure, combined with a nine-by-nine-meter double-height social area in between the two private wings. The two private areas are serviced by a central service core on each side, including the staircases, bathrooms and closets. It was the wish of the client to materialize the whole building in wood.
- Operation and Interaction
- The No Footprint Wood House has created different levels of interaction. On one hand, there is the classic relation from our team of architects and interior designers with clients and client groups. Moreover, the research arm of the No Footprint House project engages with universities and local material providers to continuously work on the development of improved building solutions that create community benefits with reduced environmental impact and cost, improving overall project performance.
- Project Duration and Location
- The actual project duration of each project depends on the specific building size and its respective location. Beyond the building of the house, many of our clients also engage in related strategies of sustainability and regenerative development. This can include strategies reforestation, the creation of food forests, permaculture, local energy production and continuous life cycle improvement. The duration of these aspects can be described as ongoing and potentially endless.
- Specifications
- The laminated wood system is an attractive and locally sourced resource to configure any model of the No Footprint House series. Alternative structural materials can be chosen according to the specific performance criteria, building location and budget. The production process is defined to deliver the project efficiently to any target location. Completely autonomous configurations are available for off-grid locations, including on-site energy production and waste water treatment.
- Keywords
- Bioclimatic, Architecture, Sustainability, Regeneration, Residential, Development, Tropical, Climate, Modular, Design
