115 entries from 39 countries! This was the number of architectural and design students who entered this year’s international concept competition – the Troldtekt Award 2014. The EUR 5,000 prize was won by three students from Escuela Superior de Arquitectura in Guadalajara (Mexico) for their project Troldtekt Raw. The jury was so impressed with the overall quality of the entries that three special prizes were also awarded, while a further four projects received honourable mentions.
Troldtekt Raw takes the acoustic panels from the Danish company Troldtekt A/S back to their roots. The three Mexican architecture students behind the project are Yajaira Escobedo Romero, Adrian Becerra Villaseñor and Joshua Dominguez Ruelas. Their proposal involves selling Troldtekt in DIY packs containing wood and cement, the raw materials used to make Troldtekt. Troldtekt Raw has now been named winner of the Troldtekt Award 2014 and the EUR 5,000 prize.
“The intention behind our project is to make the materials available so that end-users can determine the design themselves. It means you can have Troldtekt – and therefore better acoustics – wherever and in whatever shape you want,” says the winning group from Mexico.
115 entries in four categories
This year, in addition to Troldtekt’s CEO Peer Leth and product developer Niels Kappel, the jury comprised three well-known architects: Mikkel Frost, co-founder of CEBRA a/s in Aarhus, Bjarne Mastenbroek, founder of SeARCH in Amsterdam and Jorge Vidal Tomás, co-founder of Rahola Vidal arquitectes in Barcelona. Their task was to assess the 115 creative entries from 39 countries for their originality and realism. The jury divided the entries into four categories. Concept, Ceiling, Spaces and Panelling. The winning project, Troldtekt Raw, was in the Concept category, while a special prize of EUR 500 was awarded to each of the other categories. The three special prize-winners are from Malaysia, Austria and Argentina.
“In this year’s competition, we saw real beauty in the more conceptual approach to the material. It was an eye-opener and it was also here that we found our supreme winner. Troldtekt Raw takes us back to the essence of Troldtekt – shaping wood fibre and cement,” said the jury in their assessment.
Increasingly popular
This is the third time that the Troldtekt Award has been presented and the number of entries is steadily increasing. Since the first competition in 2010, the Troldtekt Award has quickly developed from a Danish to an international competition and from being promoted via the printed media to being an internet-based competition.
Peer Leth, CEO of Troldtekt A/S, adds: “It is fantastic that so many new and creative dimensions can be added to our classic acoustic panel which we have been producing for more than 80 years. We are grateful that students around the world are so keen to throw their creative energy into the competition.”
See all the exciting entries and interviews with the jury and winners at www.troldtekt.com/en/Troldtekt-
Award-2014
