Polish Students Win Trimo Urban Crash

Trimo today announced that 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 Trimo Urban Crash website) and a unanimous decision by the expert jury, their proposal for a cultural stage has been chosen for realization 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 4 and 6, 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. The surface is white but indicates that it can be covered with graffiti after a period of time, integrating it 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.

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 Florijančič, 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-color. 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 member?”

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 Tesić, 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 shortlisted projects can be viewed on the Trimo Urban Crash website. The winning solution will be realized 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 realized virtually, and the authors of the shortlisted projects will attend a Trimo architectural workshop in Slovenia.

Click here to see more shortlisted Trimo Urban Crash entries.

More about Trimo Urban Crash competition:
The second Trimo Urban Crash international competition for students of architecture, organized by the Trimo company, has completed another exciting stage. 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.

Images: Trimo Urban Crash competition