Fiber Cement Butterflies Win Bullhorn - Cembrit Design Competition

The proposal "Papilio" by Swedish architect duo Selime Osman and Ilyas Awadh has taken the first prize of EUR 10,000 (USD 12,770) in the Bullhorn - Cembrit Design Competition. The winning entry transmorphs fiber cement in a very poetic way into a swarm of light flying butterflies. The brief was to improve life settings in urban transit areas with the Malmi station area in Helsinki, Finland as case.

The international competition attracted nearly one hundred teams of architects and designers from around the world. The top 15 proposals selected by the jury will be on display in selected venues around Europe.

First Prize: Papilio
Selime Osman and Ilyas Awadh (Sweden)

Soon-to-graduate architect from the University of Lund in Sweden, Selime Osman, and architect and designer Ilyas Awadh drew their inspiration from a swarm of butterflies. They added a third dimension to fiber cement boards, and from that created a modular system of fiber cement butterflies. The basic component is a three-dimensional fiber cement triangle. With the organic form and colors of the components, "Papilio" brings natural and lively shapes into the rough station environment. The jury recognizes that the component has very diverse potential for development and applications – both in the Malmi station and in many other locations.

Second Prize: Malmi Waffles
Arklab Sthlm (Sweden)

The second-placed entry, "Malmi waffles", by Swedish Arklab Sthlm, strives to highlight the high level of energy in a station area and to bring in "soft design". The proposal is based on re-inventing the use of the classic corrugated roofing sheets, which is a 100 year old industrial design icon. This resulted in new, very interesting and ever surprising wall structures that dramatically change appearance depending on perspective of the passer by. When viewed from the side, the wavy edges merge into an ornamentative, light-filtering pattern. When viewed straight on, the vision is radially blurred by the depth of the structure.

Third Prize: MDSUPR
Maxim Bataev and Anna Suprunova (Russia)

In the entry "MDSUPR", by Russian architects Maxim Bataev and Anna Suprunova, a variety of travel and movement related symbolisms can be found – seagulls, clouds, flight. In the modular shelter system, fiber cement boards have been used as a surface material and, according to the jury, it has its strength in the very clean design and firm repetition which in a very elegant way covers large areas such as station platforms.

“Selecting the top three entries for prototyping was not an easy task”, says jury member Mr. Esa Ruskeepää, Architect, ERA. “The quality level of entries was so high and we saw many interesting ways of enriching urban transit areas.” After two days of thorough evaluation, the International jury selected a top 15 from which three entries were selected for further prototyping. These were then evaluated once again at the Cembrit factory in Lohja, Finland one day before the winner ceremony. “When we saw the winning entries executed in fiber cement in 1:1 scale, this really made a huge difference. Suddenly, the entries came to life and it was very evident to what degree the conceptual design idea would have any relevance realized in fiber cement” concludes Esa Ruskeepää.

“It is fantastic that the competition has attracted so many talented teams of architects and designers from around the world. We reached the goal with Bullhorn – Cembrit Design Competition which was to release courage and generate enriching solutions for built environments that need attention – in this case urban transit areas.” states Mr Kåre Berenthz-Nicolaisen, Group Brand Manager at Cembrit and continues “Now we look forward to showcasing the best entries and sharing them with International peers, giving the ideas the attention they deserve.”

The three winner prototypes are now on show in the “Bullhorn – Cembrit Design Exhibition” together with the other 12 top entries from the competition.