Trimo Urban Crash Competition Winners : Information

Urban Ljubljana to be energized with a Polish architectural proposal Trebnje, April 7th - Trimo is both proud and excited to announce the winners of the Trimo Urban Crash international competition for students of architecture are Jan Ledwon and Alicja Chola from Poland. With 564 public votes (from visitors to the www.trimo-urbancrash.com website) and a unanimous decision by the expert jury, their proposal for a cultural stage has been chosen for realisation in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana. The second and third place awards go to Slovenian and Italian architecture students. The opening event will take place in Metelkova mesto during the biennial Trimo architecture days between June 4th and 6th, 2009. The winning solution for a cultural stage is a sculpture-like form, a unity without a defined beginning and end that can be crafted by folding one virtual piece of paper - like an origami. It's coloured white but indicates that it can be covered with graffiti after a period of time, integrating into its surrounding even better. The second place goes to Aleš Peternel and Matej Mejak, students of Faculty of Architecture, Ljubljana, Slovenia, who proposed an idea for a "Trimo Trojan horse", a horse-shaped installation that would serve both as an information spot and a cultural stage. Third place was won by Italian students Chiara Agosti and Francesca Bellina who proposed for an information spot in the form of a moving box. The 9-member international expert jury with the winning project: (In the back, left to right) Mitja Vovko, Graeme Feechan and (in front, left to right) Janez Koželj, Miloš Ebner, Stevan Tesic, Tomaž Furlan, Jelena Grujic and Miloš Florijancic. Jan Ledwon, the principal author of the winning project, was excited to hear the news: "We couldn't sleep last night, waiting for the results. All of our friends kept their fingers crossed - and we did it! It was a pleasure to design something for an international competition and we are looking forward to finally see the location in Ljubljana." Miloš Florijancic, competition curator, architect and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Ljubljana, explained the jury was looking for a "subject" rather than an object, evaluating corresponding content, relation to place, adequate body, flashing, and technical and safety criteria. At the end of the competition he added: "We found "the white dancer", which closely corresponded to the criteria and challenges its surroundings with its non-colour. We decided it was the best project. From here on nothing is fixed, the second part of the competition is open, and the question is - in what way will the location absorb its new memberc" Tomaž Furlan, representative of Metelkova mesto, offers: "I do not perceive the chosen object as some sort of a gift to Metelkova, but as a new member, a new material that will eventually change in accordance with Metelkova rules. The object itself represents an interesting provocation - I hope it will open a dialogue in the future." Stevan Tesic, architect and sculptor working in-cooperation at the Politecnico di Milano, Italy, offers: "The concept of the competition included a clearly expressed dichotomy, a formal-technical element in conformity with the Trimo company's philosophy; and a social-communicative element, interactive and heterogeneous in its relation to the existing (perhaps also to the future) physiognomy of such a location as Metelkova. The majority of student proposals focused, to a different extent, on exploring the relationship between said aspects, considering technical viability, use of the object, and its relationship with its surrounding. The awarded projects were those which clearly defined the moment in which the object clearly and deliberately forms and allows the process of interaction without defining this process in advance. These interactions are understood as a gradual continuation, a reaction to the form through time. The reaction is not only communicative in the visual sense (graffiti) but eventually also physical, spatial thanks to the form's interaction with the Metelkova people." All 19 short-listed projects can be viewed on the www.trimo-urbancrash.com website. The winning solution will be realised at Metelkova mesto this coming summer. Jan Ledwon will, as the principal author, be awarded a summer session at an internationally acclaimed school of architecture. The second- and third-place projects will be realised virtually, and the authors of the short-listed projects will attend a Trimo architectural workshop in Slovenia. Previously: 18 Mar 2009 - Trimo Urban Crash Jury Select 19 Projects March 16 marked the beginning of voting for the best student architectural project-solution that will energise Metelkova City in Slovenia's capital Ljubljana. Until April 6, visitors to the www.trimo-urbancrash.com website can rate the 19 short-listed projects, selected from among all 147 submitted projects by the international nine-member expert jury. The winning solution will be realised on location this summer. Trimo Urban Crash Jury: (in the back, left to right) Miloš Ebner, Daan Roosegaarde, Mitja Vovko, Stevan Tesic, Graeme Feechan and (in the front, left to right) Janez Koželj, Tomaž Furlan, Jelena Grujic and Miloš Florijancic. After finishing, the jury members reflected on their work: Miloš Florijancic, competition curator, architect and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Ljubljana, Slovenia: “The surprise was already immense while we were following the arrival of the project solutions. Their number and origin completely “derailed” us. Who knew that Trimo Urban Crash would prove to be such a challenge. The jury members, arriving from five different countries and to whom I am once again offering thanks, had a difficult job. Although there was only one location, determining some satisfactory criteria applicable to all the submitted proposals was difficult, due to the sheer number of submissions. We decided on five evaluation points, common to all the submissions: corresponding content, relation to place, adequate body, flashing, and technical and safety measurements. We were looking for floor, perhaps walls or roof, a “non-house” definition, light-heavy ratio, open-closed ratio, not as much an object, more of a “subject”. Dutch visual artist Daan Roosegaarde offers: “Competitions like this offer Trimo a chance to put their money where their mouth is, since the winning project is realised in the end. The majority of the submitted projects was quite modernistic, focused largely on the visual aspect of the proposed installation, while some interesting applications of Trimo products were proposed.” Tomaž Furlan, representative of Metelkova City adds: “For a specific location like Metelkova City, creating an installation is not an easy task. I believe the winning solution will be embraced by the public and will, in time, start its own life at Metelkova.” All submitted projects can be viewed on the www.trimo-urbancrash.com website; and visitors can rate the 19 short-listed projects up until April 6, 2009. The winning solution, garnering the most jury and public votes together, will be realised in Metelkova mesto this summer. The winning author will be awarded a summer session at an internationally acclaimed school of architecture. The three best projects will be realised virtually, and the authors of the short-listed projects will attend a Trimo architectural workshop in Slovenia. The submitted projects were evaluated by an international expert jury comprised of architects, professors of architecture, sculptors and visual artists. The most interesting and suitable project solutions were selected by Miloš Florijancic, competition curator, architect and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Miloš Ebner, Design and R&D Director, Trimo, Slovenia; Graeme Feechan, Group Concept Coach in 3D Reid's Manchester office, UK; Tomaž Furlan, sculptor, visual artist and representative of Metelkova mesto, Slovenia; Jelena Grujic, architect and winner of the first Trimo Urban Crash competition, Serbia; Janez Koželj, Professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Ljubljana and Vice-Mayor of the City of Ljubljana, Slovenia; Daan Roosegaarde, visual artist from Rotterdam, the Netherlands; architect and sculptor Stevan Tesic, working in-cooperation at Politecnico di Milano, Italy; and Mitja Vovko, architect and R&D design engineer, Trimo, Slovenia. The second Trimo Urban Crash international competition for students of architecture, organized by the Trimo company, is well under way. The competition, challenging future architects by encouraging the creative transformation of the urban environment with the help of advanced building materials and technologies, ran from November 1 2008 through January 31 2009. Students from 17 countries across the globe answered the challenge and submitted 147 solutions for an urban meeting place, info spot or an alternative cultural stage. The venue will be built in Metelkova City, a unique cultural and artistic zone in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana.