Design District

Urban Adaptation Competition Introduces Ideas for Flexible and Sustainable Construction

The Urban Adaptation competition challenged architects and students from around the world to design an innovative modular wood design for a public building or a building system that easily adapts to the changing needs of the community. The competition, organized by Metsä Group, Aalto University and the Finnish Ministry of the Environment, proved a success – it received a total of 154 entries from 48 countries. One of the leading European producers of engineered wood products, Metsä Wood is committed to serving construction, industrial and distribution customer with competitive and environmentally friendly wood products. The results of the Urban Adaptation competition show how modular construction using engineered wood products like Kerto LVL (laminated veneer lumber) enables adaptable, sustainable and cost-competitive construction. “We’ve seen many interesting entries, with sites located across the world, showing how universally applicable a modular wooden system can be,” says Rahel Belatchew, Chief Architect and founder of Belatchew Arkitekter, Sweden. The other member of the jury was Minna Riska, Architect and partner at MDH Arkitekter, Norway. The entries were evaluated anonymously. In addition to visual and functional criteria, the designs needed to show (1.) adaptability, (2.) modularity and (3.) sustainability. First place winners were S M L XL by Francesco Allaix and Julio Orduña from Finland, second place won by Zerno by Alexandra Chislavleva, Sergey Ogorodnikov and Xenia Yakimenko from Russia and honorable mention to ModuRot by Onur Karataş, Alp Fahri Ardıç and Muhammed Yasin Gülmez from Turkey. The winning design, S M L XL, introduces a multipurpose building that incorporates four different floor heights, allowing different spaces that are optimized for hosting various functions. “We are delighted to see how much interest the competition received. This is a good way to spread the understanding of the possibilities of efficient and environmentally-friendly construction using engineered wood products,” says Jussi Björman, Director, Business Development, Construction at Metsä Wood.

(All images provided)

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