Brussels, Belgium, 2 June 2008 - Living Steel today divulged the 12 finalist architect teams who will submit concepts for sustainable steel housing in Cherepovets, Russia. Selected from 246 completed submissions from architects in 52 countries expressing interest to compete, the finalist teams are: 

The winning team will share a Jury Prize of €50,000 and the opportunity to see their design realised in Cherepovets.

The 3^rd International Architecture Competition originally was to include ten teams; however the Selection Committee unanimously decided to increase the number of finalist teams.

"These finalist architects represent a wealth of creative minds in sustainable design that expressed interest in this competition," said Scott Chubbs, Living Steel Programme Director. "Given the quality of the submissions and the experiences each team has to offer, it was decided to expand the competition by two teams."

According to the Competition Brief, the finalists are charged with developing three to five housing styles of approximately 120 m² each based on a single construction technology. The extreme challenge in this competition is to design the homes to be highly energy efficient and to minimise climate change emissions through the life cycle of the buildings, within a USD120,000 (approximately €76,000) construction budget (not including land and kitchen outfitting). The Brief suggests energy consumption of 100 kWh/a per m² — this in Cherepovets, Russia, where temperatures swing from summer highs of +34^o C to winter lows of -49 ^o C. The building site will eventually be the location of a community of up to 500 homes developed by Living Steel member steel company SeverStal for its employees.

The twelve short-listed teams were given the project brief and one month to put together their ideas for efficient, sustainable housing that fits the location specifications. These teams will travel to Helsinki, Finland, where they will present their concepts to the competition's Jury on 26-27 June 2008.

The Jury members represent some of the world's finest architects, known for their passion for great design and their application of sustainable practices in their work.  Glenn Murcutt returns to the 3^rd International Architecture Competition jury, and is joined by:

• Kimmo Lintula, K2S Architects Ltd., Finland,
• Mark Middleton, Grimshaw Architects, UK
• Patricia Patkau, Patkau Architects, Canada
• Sergey Skuratov, Sergey Skuratov Architects, Russia
• Alexei Venediktov, SeverStal, Russia     

In addition to the design competition, a two-day Charrette will follow on 28-29 June in Helsinki where the teams will be joined together in groups and tasked with master planning of the community development. The groups will present their plans to each other and then vote on which group offered the best solution. The winning group will share the €20,000 Architects' Prize.

Each of the twelve competition teams will be awarded a €3,000 honorarium.

The competition event in Helsinki will conclude with an awards dinner on 29 June 2008 and the announcement of the winners of the Jury Prize and Architects' Prize.  

"We thank the many teams that entered our competition," Chubbs said, "It is exciting and encouraging to Living Steel that so many have a desire to take up the challenge for low climate change emissions buildings that conceptualise the home people want and deserve."

See the Competition Brief and other relevant information at www.livingsteel.org/extremehousing

Read the 3rd Competitions Finalists Biographies here.

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Click to view the Press Release

Click to view the Russian Press Release

Click to view the full PDF

Competition Brief

For more information, please contact:

Nicola Perez
Weber Shandwick
T: + +61 412 304 958
E: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Kathleen Hickey
Living Steel
T: +1 734 905 0062
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Editor's Notes

About Living Steel

Living Steel, a worldwide, collaborative programme designed to stimulate innovative and responsible housing design and construction was launched in February, 2005. The programme was developed to help address the unprecedented pressure on infrastructure, communities and the quality of people's lives stemming from growing urban populations.

Funded through the contributions of the world's leading steel manufacturers, the Full Members of Living Steel include ArcelorMittal, Baosteel, BlueScope Steel, CELSA Group, Corus, Erdemir, IMIDRO, Posco, Rautaruukki, SeverStal and Tata Steel.

Becker Industrial Coatings, McDonald Steel Building Products Ltd., Realm Intermediaries (P) Ltd. and Saint-Gobain Gypsum are Associate Members.

Supporting Members of the Living Steel include Associação Portuguesa de Construção Metálica e Mista, Asociación para la Construcción de Estructuras Metálicas, Asociación para la Promoción Técnica del Acero, Bouwen mit Staal, Canadian Institute of Steel Construction, Centro Brasileiro da Construção em Aço, European Convention for Constructional Steelwork, Finnish Constructional Steelwork Association, Fondazione Promozione Acciaio, HERA, Institute for Steel Development and Growth, Instituto Latinoamericano del Fierro y el Acero, International Zinc Association, Korea Iron & Steel Association, Korean Society of Steel Construction, Singapore Structural Steel Society, South African Institute of Steel Construction, Staalinfocentrum - Centre Information Acier, Stahl-Informations-Zentrum, Steel Construction Institute, Steel Framing Alliance and Turk Yapisal Celik Dernegi.

Visit www.livingsteel.org/members to learn more about our members.

About the Living Steel International Architecture Competitions

The Living Steel International Architecture Competitions were launched to develop innovative approaches to meet sustainable housing needs. Underpinning each competition is the need to address the economic, environmental and social implications of increasing population density and growth.

The combined competitions have a total prize fund of €700,000, making them one of the largest architectural design initiatives in the world, and present architects with the opportunity to bring their vision for effective and affordable housing to life in one of several countries around the world.

The first competition was launched in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 6, 2005, at the XXII World Congress of the International Union of Architects, with a call for expressions of interest to design sustainable housing in Kolkata, India and Warsaw, Poland. In June 2006, UK firm Piercy Conner Architects and architectenbureau cepezed from the Netherlands won the competition and were awarded contracts to complete and develop their designs for construction in India and Poland, respectively. The second competition was announced on World Architecture Day, October 2, 2006, with a call for expressions of interest to design sustainable housing in Brazil, China and the United Kingdom. From more than 1,100 expressions of interest, 18 short-listed firms were invited to submit designs for steel-based residential housing. Winners were announced in September 2007: For Brazil, Andrade Morettin Arquitetos Associados Ltda, Brazil; for China, Knafo Klimor Architects, Israel; and for the UK, Cartwright Pickard, UK. Visit www.livingsteel.org/competitions for more details.