Ruukki Construction is to hold an idea competition for young and recently-graduated architects to design a snow museum in Rovaniemi. The assignment is set by Santa Claus. Rovaniemi is a city close to Santa’s heart, and he is concerned about climate change and the dwindling snow cover. The Unbelievable Challenge 2021 competition is open to residents of all Schengen countries.

“While Santa Claus brings a certain magic to the competition, we want to remind people of something important: what is happening to our climate. We are simultaneously introducing new, fresh ideas for using steel-based products in sustainable construction. The competition also aims to support young architects in their careers and to introduce them to the industry, where internships abroad, the creation and presentation of new ideas and competitions will be essential parts of their everyday lives,” says Tiina Tukia, Head of Marketing & Communications at Ruukki’s Building Envelope business.

Ruukki Construction’s partners in the Unbelievable Challenge 2021 are the city of Rovaniemi and architectural workshops WXCA from Poland and Snøhetta from Norway. Ruukki and its partners share a common concern for sustainable development, and want to emphasize this in connection with the competition through their products, actions and choices.

The winning entry will be the one that best meets the objectives set for the competition. The best idea will utilize Ruukki’s sustainable, environmentally friendly steel-based products that excellently blend in with their surroundings. Recyclability and reusability of the products will also be play a role, and an inspiring and coherent presentation of the idea to the jury will also contribute to the selection of the winner. In addition to experience and publicity, the winner of the competition will receive a six-month internship at WXCA in Warsaw and a cash prize of €1,000.

The jury consists of architects Eli Synnevåg (Snøhetta) and Marta Sękulska-Wrońska (WXCA), winner and architect of 2014 competition Alexandru Oprita, architect Sipi Hintsanen as the representative of the city of Rovaniemi and Jānis Zaharāns as the representative of Ruukki.

The competition will be launched on 15 September, when the guidelines for participation will be published at www.unbelievablechallenge.com. Completed entries must be submitted by November 3, 2021, the finalists will be announced on November 25, 2021 and the winner will be announced on December 9, 2021. You can also follow the progress of the competition on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/unbelievablechallenge/.

The snow museum competition is the third architectural competition for young architects held by Ruukki. Over the years, more than 300 design ideas have been submitted to the competitions.

Additional information:
Tiina Tukia, Ruukki Construction, tiina.tukia@ruukki.com, tel. +358 50 314 3417.