Responsibility brings purpose_Samu Pitkanen

During the EFL Gala-evening on May 12 in Helsinki, Jury chair Sampo Vallius (ARA) and co Jury chair Mr. Eckhard Feddersen (Feddersen Architects) handed over the First Prize for the best entry. 

Fresh ideas for accessible housing from international design competition for students

 European Federation for Living (EFL) and the Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland (ARA) were seeking innovative ideas for accessible housing with a design competition for students.

The competition was open to all students of architecture from the countries with an EFL partner member. Entries were received from Finland, Germany, Netherlands, France and the UK. 31 entries were received in total.

Students of Tampere university of technology dominated the prizes

The winner of the competition is Samu Pitkänen from Tampere university of technology, with his entry Responsibility Brings Purpose. Second prize was given to Darina Bunak for her entry School of Life, and third prize to Elina Aho-Kemppainen for her entry Pulse; both from Tampere university of technology.

Also honourable mentions were received by the degree students and exchange students of Tampere university of technology. They were given to Antti Tuure for his entry Garden Bridge, Miro Saloranta for his entry Patchwork Forest, Petra Moravcová’s entry Pocket Neighbourhood and Ananda Frigiére’s entry Kulma. Petra Morovcová’s home university is Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic and Ananda Frigiére’s is Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Saint-Etienne in France.

The awarded entries were chosen anonymously, without breaking the competition secret, so the success of the students from Tampere university of technology surprised the jury. The reasons for success can be found from Tampere university of technology’s school of architecture, where the opportunity to include the competition in course schedule was used, to motivate the students to take part.

The jury was highly satisfied with the high calibre of the entries and the students’ fresh and bold attitude. New ideas can be found in all scales: from useful details to help everyday life, to large-scale urban design. Most of the students didn’t only settle to design accessible apartments, but also sought solutions for challenges of urbanization and sustainability.

Jury report with all 31 entries: click HERE.

The Jury and prizes

The jury members were:

Sampo Vallius , Chairman    The Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland (ARA)

Joost Nieuwenhuijzen        General Director, EFL, Netherlands

Jeremy Porteus                    Housing Learning and Improvement Network, UK

Jacqui Rennie                      Centre for Accessible Environments, UK

Eckhard Feddersen              Feddersen Architects, Germany

Theo van der Voordt           TU Delft, Netherlands

Kirsti Pesola                          Retired; former Director of the Accessibility Centre ESKE at the Finnish Association of People with Physical Disabilities

Renée Floret-Scheide          Agence Floret-Scheide, France

Competition secretary:         

Kaisu Kammonen                 The Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland (ARA)

A total amount of eur 10 000 was given out in the competition. The jury wanted to make  many of the best entries visible, so three best entries were awarded and also four honourable mentions were distributed. First prize was worth eur 5000, second price worth eur 3000, and third prize worth eur 1000. Honourable mentions were worth eur 250 each.

EFL Design Competition – Accessible Housing student competition was carried out by the European Federation for Living. EFL is a group of European organisations which operate in the field of residential development, financing and control. It works in cooperation with research institutes, public bodies and the business community to encourage sustainable residential living areas in Europe through the exchange of knowledge and experiences.

2nd Prize: . School of life : Darina Bunak

3rd Prize: . Pulse: Elina Aho-Kemppainen

Honorable mention: project Garden Bridge: Antti Tuure

Honorable mention project Kulma: Ananda Frigiere

Honorable mention_project PatchworkForest: Miro_Saloranta

Honorable mention project Pocket Neighbourhood: Petra Moravcova