Umeå Architectural College no. 1 on plastics

Tobias Jansson and Oscar Forsman, students at Umeå Architectural College are the winners of Nordbygg’s competition for students of architecture, Nya ögon på plast i arkitekturen (New view on plastics in Architecture). The winning contribution, Paviljong (Pavillon), will be set up in the entrance hall at Stockholmsmässan, and function as a café and meeting place during Nordbygg, April 10-13.

In their motivation, the jury writes:
“The simplicity of the idea is also what provides it's grand result. All functions are nicely integrated and the whole convinces as a temporary pavilion. Setting off in classical order, a courtyard is created with columns that are consistent with the strictly geometrical basic concept. […] Stability and low weight makes it easy to imagine how the café is delivered in a flat packet: A grand hall of pillars that just as quickly may be set up as taken down again.”

The challenge of plastics
– It is great fun to win, says Tobias Jansson and Oscar Forsman in unison. It has been a fun competition to work with, and we look forward to seeing the completed pavilion.

– We wanted to create a pavilion consisting of clear elements in repetition, with a clear expression, Tobias explains.

To work in plastics, they perceived as difficult, seeing as they had not worked with it as a load-bearing material before.

– We just thought that anything is possible, says Oscar. Now that the competition is finalised, we are looking forward to discussing the construction of the pavilion.

A good platform
Oscar and Tobias are both very positive towards Nordbygg’s initiative, with a competition that focusses on different materials. They say that they themselves have learnt many new things about plastics from taking part in it.

– The competition is a good platform for students to approach different materials, and also to devote an entire pavilion to one single material, says Oscar Forsman.

– Plastics have their own unique features and we therefore believe that it is a material that will always be a part of architecture, says Tobias Jansson.

More plastics at Materialbiblioteket (The Materials Library)
Björn Florman, Materialbiblioteket, also sees a bright future for plastics in Swedish architecture.

– Visitors to Materialbiblioteket today come to see ”real” plastics, says Björn Florman. That is why I believe that plastics have a bright future in Swedish formative architecture. We will be getting closer to Germany and Denmark, where plastics for a long time have had a strong position.

For more information on plastics, the Nordbygg visitor can catch up on Materialbiblioteket's table-top exhibit “Äkta fake” (“Real fake”).

– The exhibit includes several materials, but plastics have a given spot. Plastics were originally made to be fake. That is, they were meant to copy and replace ivory and tortoise-shell. We have come so far now that plastics are often acknowledged as real, says Björn Florman.

New view on plastics in architecture is arranged by Nordbygg in cooperation with Swedish Architects and this year also with IKEM (Innovations- och kemiindustrierna i Sverige, Innovation and chemical industries in Sweden) In total, 18 entries were received from Lunds Tekniska Högskola (Lubf Technical College), Luleå Tekniska Universitet (Luleå Technical University), Umeå Arkitekthögskola (Umeå Architectural College) and Chalmers.

For more information visit www.nordbygg.se or contact:

Peter Söderberg, Event Manager, peter.soderberg@stockholmsmassan.se, +46 8 749 43 93.

Liisa Aus, Content & Media Manager, liisa.aus@stockholmsmassan.se, +46 70-789 41 53