Saint-Gobain 15th Edition Multi Comfort Student Contest

Saint-Gobain presented the awards for the international final of its 15th Multi Comfort Students Contest, following the competition held in Milan (Italy), chaired by Pierre-André Chalendar, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Saint-Gobain. More than 2,200 students from 199 universities entered the contest which mainly addresses those reading architecture and engineering. 60 competing teams from 34 countries came to the final in Milan to present their projects to an international panel of representatives from the Municipality of Milan, architects and experts.

Created in 2004, this contest aims to recognize student talent by holding a competition to design a project based on the principles of Saint-Gobain’s Multi Comfort concept: thermal, visual and acoustic comfort as well as good-quality indoor air.

The challenge for Saint-Gobain’s 15th International Multi Comfort Students Contest, developed in close collaboration with the Municipality of Milan, was to design a project to rehabilitate and reconnect the urban area around the Crescenzago subway station in Northeast Milan. The project needed to be in line with the City of Milan’s #milano2030 development concept, which includes the renovation of three existing buildings and the development of a new complex with housing, public spaces and infrastructure. Entries were judged on their innovative approach, environmental qualities and compliance with Multi Comfort criteria, as well as their ability to blend perfectly into the environment and account for the climatic conditions specific to the area.

“This year, the contest task was a perfect illustration of some of the major challenges that cities are facing. I was again very impressed by the students’ enthusiasm and their commitment in presenting their projects using Multi Comfort solutions of Saint-Gobain for imagining and building the cities of tomorrow, cities that can improve our daily life and our wellbeing, and cities that will also take care of the planet. Congratulations to all the participants!”, said Pierre-André de Chalendar.

The City of Milan is working towards a more sustainable, inclusive, and beautiful Milan for 2030. The Milan 2030 plan aims for urban regeneration by caring for public spaces throughout all districts in the city, says Milan’s Councillor for Urban Planning Pierfrancesco Maran. The winning projects in this competition drive us to come up with new ideas for areas that need to be redeveloped and reconnected to the urban fabric. We need innovative, quality solutions, and the proposals from these students, who have clearly worked with passion and dedication, are undoubtedly a valuable contribution.

The first prize was awarded to Anna Toborek and Joanna Machera, from the Silesian University of Technology in Poland, for their “Co.Living” project.

Emmanuella Ohene Mantey, Mohamed Fakhri and Patrick Kore from the Abidjan School of Architecture in Ivory Coast received the second prize with the “Social Canopy” project.

The third prize went to Bakhrom Khakimov from Brest State Technical University, Belarus, with its “Induction” Project.

During this edition, two special prizes were awarded, one to Timofey Kuzmenko, Artem Diyanov and Anna Budyuk from Russia and the other to Kang Yeonjae and Youn Kyungsun from South Korea.