Architects, builders and other interested parties are invited to apply for Modular House Challenge organised by Latvijas Finieris in cooperation with Latvia's State Forests (LVM). The event will take place on May 26th, in Jelgava. Until the day of the event, informative and practical lectures will be held for six weeks, as well as excursions to Pavasars Modular homes in Rauna and Latvijas Finieris demo center in Riga.
Competition is organised in two stages. First stage includes 4 hour idea competition on May 26th, 2023 in person at Latvijas valsts meži center, Jelgava. Followed by in depth 6 month concept development incubator with mentors for selected teams. Up to 3 teams will win a chance to execute their idea and bring home part of up to 30000 EUR prize pool. Read more information below.
Starting with April, 2023 participate in weekly introductionary online events with topics on modular houses, building in wood and material analysis.
26th of April - Excursion to “Pavasars” modular housing and windows factory in Rauna and "WIGO" CLT and wooden frame modular housing factory in Limbaži.
16th of May - Excursion to “Latvijas Finieris” factory in Bolderāja, Rīga, with information about manufacturing and processing of plywood.
26th of May - 4 - 6 hour idea competition at LVM client center in Jelgava, where teams will have 3 min to pitch their proposals. Awarded teams proceed to the next stage. Find out more on Facebook event.
Stage II* - Starts with Abragciems Development workshop, continues with Individual mentorship and support to prepare prototypes, scale model and submitting posters for the final evaluation.
Production and user testing, Spring 2024 - Awarding best teams and building 1-3 functional full scale prototypes at camping site for gathering user feedback and material testing.
*Stage II and following activities coordinated by Morbergs Studio and
MeKA - Research and development institute of forest and wood processing
Māris Būmanis
Latvijas Finieris Executive Board Member
Andrejs Domkins
MeKA Director
Tomass Kotovičs
Head of Latvia's State Forests (LVM) Communication Unit
Uģis Ozols
Riga Wood Baltic CEO
Anatolijs Borodiņecs
Head of RTU SITK department
Rūdis Rubenis
Architect, wood architecture expert
Matijs Babris
Founder of Morberga Studija innovation centre
Elīna Miķelsone
Director at RTU Science and Innovation centre
Inguss Pavasars
Founder CEO “Pavasars”
Egons Bērziņš
Architect, Assistant Professor at RTU
Ilze Kalniņa
Latvijas Finieris
Plywood Project Manager
Intars Metums
Riga Wood Baltic Wholesale Executive Chief
Guntis Sala
Main architect at Latvijas Finieris
Gunita Meiere
Latvijas Finieris Board Member, Head of HR and Administration
*List may change due to availability and scheduling options
Full event prize pool is 24 000 - 30 000 EUR*. All teams who pass Stage I idea selection phase get up to 500 EUR per team for prototyping, expert consultations and A1 poster print for the second round. The 3 best teams from Stage II will be awarded with monetary prizes up to 3000 EUR per team for first place, 2000 EUR for second place and 1000 EUR for third place.
From the 3 final awarded winners jury selects 1-3 ideas that will be realized as a full-scale prototype and used for user testing at a camping site. Full applicable costs per unit are up to 20 000 EUR. Find full list of rules and regulations here.
*Prizes are shown in full amount before VAT.
Creativity and Innovation - Surprise us with how innovative and creative is your offered concept, attractive visual features, design, additional functionality, inspiring use cases etc.
Feasibility and Cost Optimization - We evaluate the practicality of building and maintaining your concept, as well as whether the project can be realized within an expected budget of 20 000 EUR per unit.
Usability, Adaptability, and Relevance to the Target Audience - We will evaluate your concept's diverse functionality, compliance with different user group sizes, relevance to living, recreation, tourism, and other features like ventilation, weather resistance and transportability.
Sustainability - Evaluated based on the autonomy and use of alternative energy resources, as well as choice of materials with a low carbon footprint, longevity features, and recycling throughout the full life cycle of the modular house.
Team competences - Ability to execute the project, as well as expertise in main team roles such as design, engineering, project management, and others.
Presentation quality - Clarity of the idea. Teams ability to persuade the jury, sell the idea and stay on time.
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