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The Unbelievabe Challenge 2021 - "The Melting Globe" The Unbelievabe Challenge 2021 - "The Melting Globe"
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The Unbelievabe Challenge 2021 - "The Melting Globe" The Unbelievabe Challenge 2021 - "The Melting Globe"
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The Unbelievabe Challenge 2021 - "The Melting Globe" The Unbelievabe Challenge 2021 - "The Melting Globe"
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The Unbelievabe Challenge 2021 - "The Melting Globe"
The Unbelievabe Challenge 2021 - "The Melting Globe"
The Unbelievabe Challenge 2021 - "The Melting Globe"

Mohamed Raslan - first runner-up in The Unbelievable Challenge 2021 competition

Earlier we have met three top five The Unbelievable Challenge 2021 finalists:  Štefánia Vasilková from Slovakia, two architects who worked together on the design proposal Alice Šindelářová and Petra Macholánová from Czech Republic and Elina Harjunpää from Finland.

The introductions of competition finalists continue with the first runner-up, architect Mohamed Raslan from Hungary. The first runner-up design, The Melting Globe, was seriously competing with the winning design Re-Ice by Hanna Galas from Poland, which is why The Melting Globe was nominated “the first runner-up design”. This type of nomination was the first in The Unbelievable Challenge history.

We met Mohamed Raslan in Hungary together with our partner Lambda Systeme Kft., who kindly invited us to their office to celebrate the success of this talented young architect. During the day, we had the opportunity to discuss about Mohamed’s ideas, and the competition, and learn how we can make next The Unbelievable Challenge even a greater experience for young architects.

Inspired by cultures and experiences

Growing up in Alexandria, Egypt. Mohamed witnessed the historical event of the inauguration of the Alexandria Bibliotheca, the largest library in Africa and the Middle East at that time. He spent the majority of his teenage period reading and absorbing lifetime experiences and different cultures in the library. 

“Attending several workshops, events and conferences in the library, I made most of my lifetime friends. Our generation was considered the most ambitious, and most of us after graduation pursued further education from universities all over the world. The impact of the library on us, made me realize how architecture can change a whole community or rather a huge city. Since then, I am taking human-centric design as my approach to design. Currently, I am doing my doctoral studies at Budapest University of Technology and Economics and I have still two years to go”, Mohamed opens up more about his background.
 

Mr. Santa raises up an important environmental topic

Mohamed loved the idea of the competition, and the role of Mr. Santa, since the initiative to design a museum of snow gave the impression that one day snow might be a thing of the past. 

 “Believing that we (living beings on earth) are all connected, and what is happening in the Arctic will affect the Sahara desert like any other environment on our globe. Learning from vernacular traditions, sheltering in the ground is widely used in harsh environments. That is why I designed the main mass of the museum as a shelter, which allowed the accessible roof to act as a storytelling piazza. The piazza encompasses a reflecting pool where a globe is floating (Appears to be floating while it is supported by a hydraulic system). While the pool is frozen in winter, the globe is floating. However, going into summer the pool starts to melt, resulting in the globe sinking inside the pool. The pool also shows magnificent arctic phenomena such as sea ice. This is an embodiment of our melting globe that through time is sinking in its own water”, he opens his first runner-up design – The Melting Globe.

Feedback to organizers and competition jury

We also asked Mohamed his feedback about Ruukki, the organizers, and the competition. “Now I know that Ruukki is among the industry leaders in the building envelope field. I found the website pretty straightforward and easy to navigate, so I found easily the products what I was looking for.  Regarding the competition itself, my feedback is related to the jury work. I think letting the jury decide only on the designs is better than organizing video presentations and online meetings, because after anonymity is gone through presentations, results can be biased, says Mohamed.

Thanks for your comments and feedback, Mohamed. And congratulations once more. It was great to meet you and all the best with your studies!

In the Lambda Systeme Kft. office, Mohamed presented his idea to Branch Manager Károly Gazdag, Product Manager István Mucsina and Managing Director of Raimund Wiesinger (on his left), head of Building Envelope marketing Tiina Tukia and Export Manager Kaidu Kaup from Ruukki (on his right).

If you want to see more about The Melting Globe design, click here