I have always been deeply fascinated by nature, its creativity, and human imagination, and I believe they are essential to finding meaning in life. I nurtured this curiosity during my university years while studying architecture, and it is something I definitely do not want to lose as I grow older and become more immersed in professional life. Architecture competitions are a form of continued learning that I intentionally chose after graduation. They give me the opportunity to keep imagining, experimenting, and exploring ideas freely—and to hold on to that sense of curiosity and creativity beyond everyday practice.

Architecture competitions offer us a valuable space for experimentation, where research and design can come together around a specific place, question or programme. They allow us to investigate an idea through the act of designing, to test relationships between context, space, material and use, and to explore architectural possibilities. In this sense, the competition becomes not only a way of proposing a project, but also a way of thinking through architecture.

In everyday practice, we are constantly responding to schedules, codes, budgets, clients, and many practical requirements. Those constraints are important, but competitions give me a different kind of space — a chance to step outside of my daily work, ask questions again, experiment, and take risks with ideas that may not have an immediate place in a real project. For our team, competitions are not simply about winning. They are a way to keep myself curious. They remind us of why we became a designer in the first place: to imagine possibilities that do not exist yet, and to explore how architecture can turn those possibilities into reality.

As students, we see competitions as a way to test our ideas beyond the academic environment. They push us to think critically, communicate clearly, and recognise both our strengths and weaknesses. More than winning, they are a chance to learn, experiment, and gradually develop our own architectural voice.

Architecture competitions are a great way to explore subjects we are passionate about, continue developing our creativity and enjoy working on ideas that we might not have the opportunity to address in everyday practice. They are also an excellent way to keep practicing, experimenting, and improving as designers.

From our point of view, architecture competitions are an opportunity to step outside the routines of everyday practice and explore ideas with greater freedom. They encourage experimentation, challenge us to test our own design approach, and allow us to engage with places, cultures, and architectural questions that we might not encounter in our daily work. The Iceland Slow Sauna competition was particularly appealing because of its unique setting and intimate scale, inviting a thoughtful response to both landscape and atmosphere. Competitions also provide a valuable space for collaboration. As this is our first competition as a team, it allowed us to develop ideas together, combine our individual perspectives, and discover how we complement each other throughout the design process. At the same time, competing alongside participants from around the world motivates us to continuously improve and learn from different ways of thinking about architecture. Regardless of the outcome, we believe every competition is worthwhile. Each project strengthens our design process, sharpens our ability to communicate ideas, and teaches us something new about architecture and ourselves. Every challenge becomes another step in our professional development, giving us greater confidence and a deeper understanding that we can carry into future projects. We see competitions as an essential part of our growth as architects and hope to continue participating regularly in the years to come.

For me, architecture competitions are more than a way to win projects. They are opportunities to challenge my own limits, refine my thinking, and continuously develop as an architect. Competitions are also an open platform for engaging with society, cities, the media, and the public through architecture. They allow us to respond to contemporary issues, communicate ideas, and explore new possibilities for architecture and the public realm.

Competitions allow us to continue an ongoing design dialogue beyond the constraints of commercial practice. They provide a space to experiment, test ideas and develop our own architectural voice. While recognition is rewarding, the process of exploring a clear idea from brief to proposal is what we value most.

One of the reasons I enjoy architecture competitions is that they allow me to explore ideas that don't always fit within everyday practice. They allow designers to work with greater freedom, respond to unfamiliar contexts, and place their ideas within an international architectural conversation. The Iceland Slow Sauna competition was especially interesting because the program was small, but it involved many different elements: heat, water, vegetation, weather, privacy, and landscape. Receiving an Honorable Mention was very encouraging, but I also valued the design process itself. It gave us the chance to think carefully about how such a small building could still create a rich spatial experience.

I participate in architecture competitions to be able to explore topics or develop skills that I am not currently otherwise working on.