Techtextil competition on using textiles in construction
September 30, 2014 - Germany
Messe Frankfurt organised - Techtextil, a technical textiles and nonwovens trade fair which is being held from May 4-7, 2015, is once again hosting ‘Textile Structures for New Building 2015’ student competition.
In cooperation with the international TensiNet association as sponsor, the 13th edition of the competition will spotlight innovative and realistic approaches and solutions to building with textiles or textile-reinforced materials.
Messe Frankfurt said the competition is open to all students and young professionals born on or after 1 March 1986 from the fields of architecture, civil engineering, product design and related sectors.
It added that the closing date for receipt of entries for the competition, which carries a total purse of € 8,000, is 27 February 2015. In addition to an awards ceremony during Techtextil, exhibitors and trade visitors will be able to see all award-winning projects in a special exhibition.
“Technical textiles offer architects and engineers, a variety of completely new opportunities. In comparison to steel and aluminium, technical textiles are light, need little maintenance, are durable and multi-functional”, Michael Jänecke from Messe Frankfurt said.
“In addition to textile-reinforced concrete, textiles are increasingly being used for facades and roofs. Despite this, there is still an insufficient level of awareness of textiles as building materials”, he added.
He explained, “In view of this, the student competition has been promoting the exchange of ideas and information between young academics and the universities, the technical-textile industry and the construction industry as a whole for the last 25 years.”
The technical and scientific supervisor is Prof Werner Sobek, Director of the Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design (ILEK) of the University of Stuttgart.
The competition covers all aspects of textile building and entrants can chose any relevant subject for their project. However, emphasis will be given to ‘Suitability for re-use and recycling’. Both supervised and unsupervised projects will be accepted.
The international jury of the ‘Textile Structures for New Building 2015’ student competition includes renowned academics, architects and textile building engineers. The chairman of the jury is Prof Werner Sobek.
The TensiNet association has donated € 8,000 as prize money and the jury will choose winners from macro-architecture, micro-architecture, the environment & ecology and composites & hybrid structures categories. (AR)