Ruukki Construction calls for graduates and students to design fictional “snow museum”

A visualisation of a potential design for The Museum of Snow

Dezeen promotion: Finnish steel-based manufacturer Ruukki Construction has launched an architectural competition to design The Museum of Snow, a fictional museum in Finland.

Named The Unbelievable Challenge 2021, this third edition of the competition organised by Ruukki Construction calls for recently graduated architects to put their best ideas forward for the conceptual museum that would be located in Rovaniemi, the home of Santa Claus.

The winner will receive a six-month fully paid internship at Warsaw-based architectural practice WXCA.

A visualisation of a potential design for The Museum of Snow
The winner will receive an internship at Warsaw-based architectural practice WXCA

“This is a call for action to fight the extinction of snow,” said Tiina Tukia, head of marketing and communications at Ruukki Construction.

“Me and our most beloved Finn and arctic inhabitant Santa Claus, are challenging young architects to design something that can’t be forgotten – The Museum of Snow.”

Ruukki Construction is looking for graduates to use “innovative and unconventional thinking” in their design of The Museum of Snow.

The proposals must use Ruukki Construction’s steel-based products and provide fresh ways to use the material, including reusing and recycling it.

The competition's jury consists of Marta Sekulska-Wronska, Sipi Hintsanen, Eli Synnevåg, Janis Zaharans and Alexandru Oprita.
The competition’s jury of the first Unbelievable Challenge

“The top-scoring idea presents a clever and avant-garde way of utilising Ruukki Construction’s sustainable, environmentally friendly steel-based products,” said Tukia.

The competition aims to support recently graduated architects and Ruukki Construction intends to introduce the winning architect to the industry to help launch their career.

A conceptual image of The Museum of Snow
The competition aims to launch graduate’s careers

“The goal is to find new, fresh ideas for using steel-based products in sustainable construction,” said Tukia. “The competition also aims to support young architects and introduce them to the industry.”

To launch The Unbelievable Challenge 2021, Ruukki Construction has partnered with the City of Rovaniemi and the architecture firms WXCA in Poland and Snøhetta in Norway.

The jury surrounding an architectural model
Winner of The Unbelievable Challenge 2017 Ben Feicht and Eli Synnevåg from Snøhetta

“Ruukki and its partners share a common concern for sustainable development and aim to manifest this in their products, actions and choices,” said Tukia.

The competition’s jury consists of Marta Sękulska-Wrońska from architectural company WXCA, architect Sipi Hintsanen as the representative of the city of Rovaniemi, architect Eli Synnevåg from Snøhetta, Janis Zaharans as the representative of Ruukki Construction and architect and winner of the 2014 competition Alexandru Oprita.

An image of a snow-covered landscape
The competition is open to Schengen residents

The competition is open to the residents of all Schengen countries and will close on 3 November 2021.

The finalists will be announced on 25 November and the winner on 9 December.

To view more about the competition, visit its website.


Partnership content

This article was written by Dezeen for Ruukki Construction as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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