isunchallenge.org / about
About & Design Brief
i-SUN mobilises architectural creativity and solar technology to deliver buildable, replicable renewable-energy architecture for Small Island Developing States. Student teams — each paired with a practising architect and a solar-industry partner — design for a solar-rich, fuel-scarce, climate-exposed context where resilience is survival.
Eligibility & team composition
Open to architecture and engineering institutions worldwide.
Registration is at the institution level — institution name, institutional email ID(s) and institution country only.
Each team includes students, professors and solar-industry experts — minimum 1, maximum 50 per category.
Institutions may select multiple countries at registration.
Site selection at registration — multiple sites allowed, one registration and fee per site entry.
Rules that protect fairness
Entries are anonymised after screening — referenced only by unique ID.
No names, logos or institution marks inside any file.
Submission windows lock automatically at each deadline.
Every entry is auto-tagged with its unique team code.
Declaration of original work required before submitting.
Phase 1 deliverables
till October 2026Site masterplanPDF · drawings
Concept notePDF · notes
Elevations & sectionsPDF · drawings
Passive-design & solar strategyPDF · notes
Key views / perspectivesJPG / PNG · images
Phase 2 deliverables
shortlisted teams · Dec 2026 – Jan 2027Refined masterplan & detailed drawingsPDF
Detailed passive + active low-impact strategyPDF
Full walkthrough (interior & exterior)video accepted this phase
Scaled physical model — photographsJPG / PNG
Refined LCA / LCCPDF
Cost note (optional)PDF · optional
File rules
PDF for drawings / notes · JPG / PNG / WebP for images ·
documents and images: 10 MB guided,
20 MB hard limit ·
video: 50 MB guided,
120 MB hard limit ·
no names, logos or institution marks inside any file.