Edition Bratislava 2012

The event, hold for the first time at international level in Bulgaria in 2005, is dedicated to architecture students and aims to better disseminate among the future opinion formers the ideas of energy efficiency as well as the different comfort dimension and is based on the Saint-Gobain Student Contest.
 
The competition is structured in 2 stages: national stages followed by an international one were the best 3 projects from each country participate.
 
A record number of almost 1000 students from more that 100 universities from 3 continents registered for the participation in this year national stages, stretching from as far east as Far East Federal University (FEFU) Vladivostok from Russia to Philadelphia University of Engineering, USA in the west.
 
The task was the design of a sustainable community within the regeneration program of the Trent Basin area, Nottingham, UK. The project consist in developing a sustainable neighbourhood, providing accommodation for 12-15 families and essential services to assure an effective live work scheme, plus to develop a vision of regeneration of a larger area where this neighbourhood is placed, in which infrastructure, offices, leisure and recreation are conceived to reutilize existing buildings and to provide an effective integration to the city.

The contest started with the opening of poster exhibition giving the participants as well as jury members a first change to see all the proposed projects.

During the second day each participating team had the opportunity to present their design and ideas to the jury as well as to the other participants in the hall and to friends and colleagues watching them online as the event was webcast live.
 
Former Slovakian participants and winners of different international edition: Eng. Arch. Vladimir Hain - winner of 1st Prize at 2009 International Stage and Eng. Arch. Matus Podskalicky - winner of 3rd Prize at 2006 International Stage joined the event and shared their experiences with the participants:
 
"... A big positive aspect in competition was the organizational support. Support not only from professional, but also from the human side. Thanks to the friendly atmosphere and willingness of cooperation we could easy solve all technical problems. Therefore we learned a lot about sustainable structures, insulations as well as about other new products of Saint-Gobain. This knowledge and cooperation with colleagues we were able to successfully utilize in other projects. For instance in real architectural competition for the revitalization project of the former Power Plant in Pie?ťany (Slovakia). Thanks to all this aspects the project got into the observation program for innovative architectural practice in Europe supported by the European Commission."
Eng. Arch. Vladimir HAIN
 

The subject of the Saint-Gobain Student Contest 2012 Edition consist in the design of a sustainable community within the regeneration program of the Trent Basin area, Nottingham, UK.

The design should provide accommodation for 12-15 families, plus infrastructure, office areas, leisure and recreation, as part of the regeneration program, which is based on a new paradigm for sustainable post-industrial regeneration.

All building will be designed considering the building physics performance of an MULTI COMFORT HOUSE 

Beside constructional, the social and economic aspects also have to be considered and respected and the buildings designed should give a new impulse in the existing urban area.

The architecture of the neighbourhood has to fit in the surrounding of the site. Urban space solutions for the immediate surroundings of the site will be proposed.

The overall scope of the task is to have a critical approach to this subject and to get actively involved in giving shape to future development of European cities.

The International stage of the competition will take place May 22-25th, 2012 in Bratislava, Slovakia.