A challenge for students of architecture and design “You design an original urban installation that serves a public purpose. We will build it.”

Slovenia, Ljubljana, 15 October 2010 – Today marks the opening of the third international competition, Trimo Urban Crash, intended for students of architecture and design from all over the world. The competition will last until 31 January 2011 and challenge students to prepare a solution for an original urban installation. The winning project will be built by Trimo in residential district of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The winner will also receive a scholarship for the prestigious London School of Architecture, and all finalists will be able to participate in the architectural workshop in Slovenia. In the previous competition in 2008/2009 Trimo received almost 150 applications for projects from 17 countries. A project for a cultural stage, with characteristics of an urban sculpture, designed by Polish students, won the last competition.

“You design an original urban installation that serves a public purpose. We will build it,” flashes before you when you enter the link “Trimo Urban Crash”. Miloš Ebner, Trimo’s Chief Innovation Officer, explains: “Trimo Urban Crash presents a rare opportunity for students of architecture and design to not only experience the process of virtual creation of an idea, but also to cooperate in the implementation and construction of their winning creation at an actual location. This way they can test all elements of complete architectural creation in practice, not only its first, “virtual” part. According to many participants in the competition: “The experience of actively cooperating in creating their own architectural work and watching it come to life, on-site, and interacting with real users, is a once-in a lifetime experience and something every artist wants, Miloš Ebner comments: “This is what Trimo wants to provide for young architects and designers,” and adds that “The students entering the competition come up with fresh, new ideas and concepts for Trimo that are not merely architecturally and technically correct but also innovative -in the focussed, professional, and wider social field. ”

The last Trimo Urban Crash competition -with 147 participants from 17 countries -has already proven that students want and expect this type of concept. Students from Bangladesh, Japan, Singapore, and the United States of America also applied, together with many European students. The authors of last year’s winning project, “White dancer”, Jan Ledwoń and Alicja Choła from Poland, said: “Students of architecture often participate in different competitions, but the idea of an individual project designed by a student and then fully implemented, like Trimo's competition, is something new. Creating an idea, developing it, and seeing the final result, was a big challenge for us. We were happy to see our project finished, and we hope it serves the people living in Metelkovo mesto, Ljubljana, well. ”

This year’s theme for the best building competition is “the tribune of life”, in the Fužine district, the expressive multicultural residential part of Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capital. “The building has to connect various topics such as benches for sports and cultural events, a meeting point for different generations, a place where different cultures come together, and an answer to the problem of modern dormitory suburbs in Europe, through its form and intent,” said Miloš Ebner. “As in the past the Trimo Urban Crash competition “crashes” the most intriguing, interesting, different areas in town – the last time it was in Metelkovo mesto, this year it is the Fužine district, and next year – who knows, maybe somewhere near you?” concludes Miloš.

The winning project will be chosen through a two round evaluation by an international jury, followed by the final vote, when the public will be present; until the end of April 2011, and built in the Fužine district until autumn 2011. At the official opening of the building finalists will meet members of the jury and be able to participate in architectural workshops in Ljubljana.

International competitions such as Trimo Urban Crash offer students and universities an excellent communication channel for efficiently establishing contacts, an opportunity for knowledge exchange, and comparison of different architectural approaches. Trimo Urban Crash is a competition that encourages creative re-modelling of an urban environment with progressive construction materials and technologies produced by Trimo, as an established European producer. The experience of creating a solution for a potentially realisable project is also very important. Trimo strives to expand connections and cooperation with academia, to ensure diverse content for the syllabuses at Faculties of Architecture, and to encourage constructive cooperation between theory, practice, and economics, in different areas.

Considering the strong tradition of Trimo’s research development department and the focus on a professional approach, Trimo Urban Crash is one of many innovative projects.

Homeland of the competition Trimo Urban Crash Slovenia, a member of the EU, spreads across an area of 20,273 km•, with a population of 2,021,435, which contributes to the land’s variety and diversity and makes it truly unique. Many describe it: “In Slovenia you can pick autumn fruit in the
morning, enjoy listening to the waves of the Adriatic sea in the afternoon, and take on the ski slopes in the same evening.”
Slovenia is blessed with many characteristics – from the oldest vine in the world, which is over 400 years old but still provides 25 litres of wine every year – to the dining room of the coalmine located 160 metres below sea-level, making it the only dining room in Europe located at this depth. It is approximately 15 m wide, and fits 12 tables for a total of 48 people. The Slovenian people are famous for being hospitable, honest, hard-working people, who love extreme sports and achievements. Here we have to point out their achievements in the alpine and climbing expeditions in the Himalaya. This year they qualified for the World Cup for the second time, in which they played against England, Algeria, and the United States of America. The Planica Ski Jump is also well-known for serving over 60 world records in the history of ski jumping. It was also the
first where contestants were able to “break” the 100, and later 200 metre barriers, and the current record of 239 metres
was also achieved at Planica. This extreme sport tendency is not for the slopes, but also reaches the world's largest rapids. The Slovenian ultra-marathon swimmer, Martin Strel, was the first to swim the rivers Amazon, Mississippi, and Yangtze River. Have you visited the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, yet? Many of its landmarks were designed by the acclaimed architect,
Jože Plečnik, who gained worldwide recognition with his architectural masterpieces built in Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana –
The Triple Bridge (Tromostovje), the market (Tržnica), Congress square (Kongresni trg), the National and University Library, and Tivoli Park. Slovenia is also proud of the internationally recognised Trieste-based writer, Boris Pahor, who also received a Nobel prize nomination for his literary work. Slovenian people are known for their accomplishments in design and architecture. The Slovenian companies -Alpina, Glesia, Elan, Gorenje, Kolpa, Kovinoplastika Lož, Petrič, Trimo, Versor -have already received one of the most prestigious design awards -the Red Dot Award. Trimo received the Red Dot Product Design Award, 2010, for ArtMe. Trimo Urban Crash (TUC) is an international competition intended for students of architecture and design from all over the world. The company, Trimo, which operates in over 50 countries around the world, is organising the third biennial competition. Trimo will implement and build the winning project in an actual location.

For further information on the competition visit the website www.trimo-urbancrash.com.

For detailed information please contract:
Jana Lutovac Lah, PR Manager of Trimo Group
M: jana.lah@trimo.si
T: +386 (0)7 34 60 192

Prijateljeva cesta 12
8210 Trebnje
Slovenia

This release was published on openPR.