Architecture Competition Painters' Lake House Honorable mention winners - Kalle Zetterholm, Linnéa Holmberg, Tobias Puhlmann and Charlie Tomlinson

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to one of our Honorable mention winners for our "Painters' Lake House" competition – Kalle Zetterholm, Linnéa Holmberg, Tobias Puhlmann and Charlie Tomlinson from Sweden!

Honorable mention from Sweden

Blank is a Stockholm-based architecture studio founded in 2018 by Linnéa Holmberg and Kalle Zetterholm. We are trained as architects but are involved in a broad range of projects, from furniture design to urban planning for both private and professional clients.

What does architecture mean to you and what is the role of an architect in your society?

Architecture is ideally a frame for life that can assist in creating meaning and offer a sense of belonging, agency and comfort. It is a concrete way of willing a different world into existence. We’re viewing ourselves as an information node that can bring different expertise together in order to synthesize a wide array of knowledge into a common vision.

Why do you participate in architecture competitions?

Architectural competitions allow us to develop proposals focusing on fundamental architectural concepts and open up new fields and ideas that are not always available within conventional practice. It also allows us to search for new ways of synthesizing disparate information into clearly formulated concepts, sharpen our production and presentation tools as well as improving our ability of finding the space where the clients’ needs (brief) overlap our own interests.

What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to decide whether it would be beneficial for them to participate in architecture competitions?

Ask yourself if you think it is the best way for you to spend your time. If the answer is yes make sure to read and analyze the brief thoroughly. Consider what you want out of entering the competition and what the brief is asking for and how you can make a proposal that can satisfyingly answer both of those questions. Start writing text early.