Dezeen promotion: Finnish steel-based products manufacturer Ruukki Construction has launched an architectural competition to design The Museum of Snow, a fictional museum in Finland.
Named The Unbelievable Challenge 2021, this third edition of the competition organised by Ruukki Construction calls for recently graduated architects to put their best ideas forward for the conceptual museum that would be located in Rovaniemi, the home of Santa Claus.
The winner will receive a six-month fully paid internship at Warsaw-based architectural practice WXCA.
"This is a call for action to fight the extinction of snow," said Tiina Tukia, head of marketing and communications at Ruukki Construction.
"Me and our most beloved Finn and arctic inhabitant Santa Claus, are challenging young architects to design something that can't be forgotten – The Museum of Snow."
Ruukki Construction is looking for competitiors to use "innovative and unconventional thinking" in their design of The Museum of Snow.
The proposals must use Ruukki Construction's steel-based products as part of the overall design and provide fresh ways to use the material, including reusing and recycling it.
"The top-scoring idea presents a clever and avant-garde way of utilising Ruukki Construction's sustainable, environmentally friendly steel-based products," said Tukia.
The competition aims to support recently graduated architects and Ruukki Construction intends to introduce the winning architect to the industry to help launch their career.
"The goal is to find new, fresh ideas for using steel-based products in sustainable construction," said Tukia. "The competition also aims to support young architects and introduce them to the industry."
To launch The Unbelievable Challenge 2021, Ruukki Construction has partnered with the City of Rovaniemi and the architecture firms WXCA in Poland and Snøhetta in Norway.
"Ruukki and its partners share a common concern for sustainable development and aim to manifest this in their products, actions and choices," said Tukia.
The competition's jury consists of Marta Sękulska-Wrońska from architectural company WXCA, architect Sipi Hintsanen as the representative of the city of Rovaniemi, architect Eli Synnevåg from Snøhetta, Jānis Zaharāns as the representative of Ruukki Construction and architect and winner of the 2014 competition Alexandru Oprita.
The competition is open to the residents of all Schengen countries and will close on 3 November 2021.
The finalists will be announced on 25 November and the winner on 9 December.
To view more about the competition, visit its website.
Partnership content
This article was written by Dezeen for Ruukki Construction as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.