Corus Building Systems - Kalzip announces first ever European Student Award Winners

Pictured from left: Michael Budig, student tutor; Dr. Jürgen Neuwald, director of new business and technology at Corus Building Systems; Katharina Riedl (2nd), Gerold Wimmer, area sales manager, Kalzip, Austria; Brigitte Bertignoll (2nd), Mergen Annick and Johannes Mitterdorfer (1st), Maria-Elisabeth Schuler (3rd), and Josef Glas, student tutor.
The University of Innsbruck is THE place to study architecture and engineering if Kalzip’s first ever European Student Awards are anything to go by.
For although the judges did not know who they were judging by name or university, they awarded the top three prizes to a total of five undergraduates from the Austrian university … and the award ceremony was held there on April 26th.
The very first European Kalzip Student Award 2007 launched by Corus Building Systems had invited architecture and engineering students throughout Europe to compete for the award under the theme "Wrap a building“.
The challenge was to develop concepts for the building envelope of the future in the context of modern architectural demands. This was conceived within the framework of a course run by London architect Professor Patrick Schumacher who worked with Zaha Hadid on Kalzip’s BMW Project in Leipzig. No stipulations were made in terms of design or functionality, the only condition specified was the use of metal materials.
A total of 166 students/teams from around the world registered on www.kalzip-studentaward.com and 67 entries were received. The judges were not only impressed with the quality of the concepts submitted but also with the diversity of ideas.
First prize went to Mergen Annick and Johannes Mitterdorfer and their "Metal Composer" concept that was based on a metal/plastic hybrid solution. Second place went to Brigitte Bertignoll and Katharina Riedl and third prize to Maria-Elizabeth Schuler. Due to the high quality of entries submitted, the judges also awarded a special design prize to Alexander Bartscher from Zurich who focused on lighting elements as more than just a purely functional roof accessory.
The judges were prominent figures from the world of European architecture – Kristien Ring, director of the Deutsches Architektur Zentrum, CJ Lim of London; Professor Manfred Hegger of Darmstadt, Germany; Bostjan Vugar of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Martin Kohlbauer of Vienna, Austria. Kalzip was represented by Dr Jürgen Neuwald, director of new business and technology.
All entries were examined and discussed in detail in an assessment process which consisted of four rounds and it soon became clear that unusual concepts scored particularly well with the panel. In addition to creativity and innovation, the panel evaluated concept implementation and the potential feasibility of the ideas.
The students’ concepts are to be used by Kalzip as an idea pool for the development of new building envelope systems, with the award as a regular competition but with different themes. The next one is planned for 2009 and will be extended to entries from throughout the world.

Email: tracy@tlcpr.co.uk