“Textile Structures for New Building" Contest 2017

In 2017, Techtextil – International Trade Fair for Technical Textiles and Nonwovens is organizing the 14th 'Textile Structures for New Building' contest. As in the years before the international association TensiNet is supporting the contest as a sponsor with prize money amounting to € 8,000. Furthermore the contest will be medially accompanied and supported by our media partner Architonic.

Prof. Dr. Dr. E.h. Dr. h.c. Werner Sobek, director of the Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design (ILEK), University of Stuttgart, will be responsible for the professional and technical supervision of the competition.

We cordially invite all students and young professionals (born after 1 March 1988) of architecture and civil engineering, product design, or any other relevant subjects, to apply.

This competition is designed to identify innovative thinking and innovative solutions to problems, featuring construction projects capable of concrete realisation which use textiles or textilereinforced materials. A further aim is to encourage students and new entrants to the professions. The competition is further intended to strengthen contacts between the younger generation, the universities, the technical-textiles industry and broad sections of the building industry.

We look forward to a large turnout of students and young professionals who wish to master this fascinating challenge!

The assignment for students and young professionals participating in the ‘Textiles Structures for New Building 2017’ contest which will be presented at Techtextil 2017 is to create solutions in the following areas of textile building.

Structural engineering – from construction using textile-reinforced concrete or plastics to construction using membranes for permanent and temporary, adaptable and mobile buildings
Interior construction – including such developments as the use of polymer fibre-optic cables for light transmission, textile air-channel systems for draught-free air conditioning in rooms, movable sound-insulation walls in production facilities, etc.
Product design for architecture
An additional focal theme has also been included: 'Suitability for re-use and recycling'
Civil and industrial engineering

The subject of the project submitted is a free choice.

The deadline for uploading your contact data and project details online at www.techtextil-student.com is 26 February 2017. Every project eligible to participate in the contest will be allocated a project number and log-in data to use in later steps.

An international, independent jury will review all entries and select the winners of the contest. The uploaded documents will be the basis on which the independent jury will select the winning projects to be presented to the public during Techtextil from 9 to 12 May 2017 in Frankfurt.

When selecting entries, the jury mainly will take into account these criteria:

Feasibility and practicability
Use of textile and innovative materials
Level of innovation
Aesthetics / Design approach
Ecological quality / Resource efficiency (e.g. energy efficiency)
Functionality
Economic quality (cost minimization / time and process optimization)