CASUA on the jury of an international student competition
The Saint-Gobain International Student Competition takes place every year in more than twenty countries and is open to students of architecture, civil engineering, and related fields. The principle is simple: students are given a real-world urban planning assignment, and their task is to design a solution that stands up not only architecturally but also technically and environmentally. The winners of the national rounds then advance to the international finals, where they compete against the best in the world. The competition thus naturally bridges the academic environment with professional practice and gives students the opportunity to work on issues that the architectural profession is addressing right now.
This year’s competition task included designing a new building with accommodations for athletes and renovating the Academic Yacht Club building while preserving its original character. It also involved a conceptual design for public spaces intended for sports and recreation, incorporating water activities and pedestrian and bicycle connections throughout the entire area. Selected projects had to meet strict principles of sustainable construction, including the requirements of the Multicomfort Standard, which emphasizes the quality of the indoor environment (acoustics, daylight, air quality, and thermal comfort) while also requiring the comprehensive integration of urban planning, architecture, and technical solutions.
The project presentations took place on April 23 at UCEEB CTU in Buštěhrad. Joining Veronika on the jury were Ing. arch. Jana Mastíková (LOXIA), Ing. Petr Selník, Ph.D. (BUT), Doc. Ing. Šárka Šilarová, CSs. (CTU), Ing. Veronika Švejdová (Saint-Gobain), and Ing. arch. Tomáš Truxa (Saint-Gobain). Together, they selected the proposal by Markéta Pipková from the Faculty of Civil Engineering at CTU as the winning project; she will thus represent the Czech Republic in the international round of the competition in Belgrade in June. The jury praised her comprehensive and balanced approach to the site, her detailed technical solution with an emphasis on ecology and sustainability, her high-quality analysis of various structural options, her thorough comparison of the site’s condition before and after the proposed revitalization, and her clear, well-thought-out presentation of the project.
For us, such collaboration is above all an opportunity to observe how those just starting out in the field think about architecture. Students bring a fresh perspective, unencumbered by the routine of practice, and this is a value we appreciate all the more the longer we’ve been in the field. At the same time, we believe that meeting with professionals, whether in the role of jurors or partners, can help advance their work. And that is precisely where we see the value of such projects.
