Saint-Gobain - Architecture Student Contest 2024

Deadline: March 29, 2024

Competitions

Creative Ideas Design Tech & IT

Location(s)

  • Finland
  • Worldwide
Helsinki (international stage final)

Overview

The Architecture Student Contest is an international competition based on Saint-Gobain’s vision of sustainable buildings. It was first organized in 2004 by Saint-Gobain Isover in Serbia, and became an international event in 2005. Today, it attracts more than 1,300 students in 30 countries.

The competition is a great chance for architecture students to gain professional experience while discovering the importance of sustainability in modern construction. The success of your project will depend on the ways in which it enhances the health and wellbeing of your building’s occupants while reducing the use of carbon, energy and resources.

Ready to be part of the game?

Details

Our ambition at Saint-Gobain

In everything we do, we are guided by our engaging purpose: Making the world a better home. For all businesses on the construction markets, we translate our purpose into a strategic commitment and concrete actions: We Care about Building Better.

We care about building better means being at our customers’ and partners’ side to innovate and help design, construct and renovate better buildings that reduce impacts on our planet, enhance people’s health and wellbeing and deliver reduced costs and increased value; providing our customers with innovative solutions to improve their performance and support their journey towards more sustainability; advocating for building better to accelerate the market transformation.

Thanks to our 350-year-long history and the synergies between our different businesses, specialist brands and skills, we want to demonstrate our thought leadership and be the preferred partner who cares about building better.

Contest Goal

We believe buildings can and should deliver both improved performance and sustainability. We care about maximizing health and wellbeing for everyone, everywhere – while minimizing impact on the environment over a building’s lifespan.

Universities are preparing future generations, and students are already building the future. Together we can build it better. 

The objective of the Architecture Student Contest is to develop a project based on sustainability, both for people and the planet. The buildings will be highly energy-efficient, low-carbon, and provide a comfortable environment for their occupants, in order to create better living, working and leisure spaces everywhere.

How does it work?

Every year Saint-Gobain selects a country with an architectural challenge and works very close with the local municipality to develop a task that will address real social and cultural issues. Students from different universities all around the world are bringing up their best ideas  to compete and win one of the prizes of this international contest.

  1. National Stage
    Competition against other students from universities of the same country. The best project will travel and compete in the international stage.
  2. International Stage
    A 3-day event for winners of National Stages compete against each other with the same contest task, where the following activities take place: welcome ceremony, jury deliberation, city tour, feedback sessions, awards ceremony and gala dinner.

Contest Task

Every year the architectural challenge is selected by Saint-Gobain to adress to its participants from all over the world a real task in a chosen city.

Before launching the competition, the contest task is submitted to the approval of professors from participating universities during the Teachers Day event. They have the opportunity to contribute to the creation of the challenge on which students will build their project.

THE CONTEST TASK - GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The task of the 19th edition of the international student competition organized by Saint-Gobain Group in close cooperation with Helsinki University and the City of Helsinki is to develop a residential area (for citizens, and researchers) in an area located near the Viikki research Farm and Veterinary Teaching Hospital. Helsinki University is the property owner of the contest task area and has commissioned Helsinki City to provide a development plan for the coming years.

Participants in the competition should propose a vision for the area, considering both the natural characteristics of the location, and the expectations of students and researchers living and visiting this area. The project involves the renovation of an existing building, which will be used to host researchers, as well as the construction of a new residential building. The proposal should also consider the link to the Gardenia (current tenant is a craft brewery by CooHead Brew) building and its Japanese garden, and the exterior spaces activities as the old farm museum will be demolished. The project must be innovative and sustainable and comply with the technical guidelines prepared by Saint-Gobain.

Opportunity is About


Eligibility

Candidates should be from:


Description of Ideal Candidate

Who can participate?

  • Types of studies - Students in architecture, design, construction engineering or other related disciplines.
  • Year of study - All students from the 1st to 6th year of study taking part of the academic year of the contest. Students on scholarship and exchange programs can participate.
  • Team localisation - Participants represent the university and the country where they are studying at the time of the competition.
  • Team composition - Students can participate as individuals or in teams up to of 3 members.

Judging criteria

  • Architecture 50 %
    Design excellence, functional concept and regional aspects, layout. 
  • Technical criteria 20 %
    Constructions comply with the Saint-Gobain criteria (carbon & energy, resources & circularity, health & wellbeing) as well as with the fire safety requirements.
  • Construction details 20 %
    Quality and consistency of the proposed construction details with regards to building physics (thermal and acoustic bridges, airtightness and moisture management).
  • Products usage 10 %
    Correct usage and mentioning of Saint-Gobain products and solutions in the project.

Dates

Deadline: March 29, 2024


Cost/funding for participants

Prizes

  • 1st prize 
    5 000 €
    + Publication on ArchDaily, the world’s most visited architecture website
    + Award Certificate signed by the International Jury members
  • 2nd prize 
    3 000 €
    + Award Certificate signed by the International Jury members
  • 3rd prize
    1 500 €
    + Award Certificate signed by the International Jury members
  • Special* prize 

    1 000 €
    + Award Certificate signed by the International Jury members
    * This prize is awarded to a project by the jury in recognition of extraordinary ideas or other qualities.
  • Student** prize

    1 000 €
    + Award Certificate signed by the International Jury members
    ** This prize is awarded to the project which receives the most votes from the participating teams at the International Stage.
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