Foreword


Buildner is pleased to announce the results of its Sansusī Forest Food Court International Competition!

First established in 2014, the Sansusī festival is held each year in Latvia. The event merges chamber music – a form of classical music composed for a small group of instruments – with the excitement, adventure and freedom of a typical rock festival. It combines open-air concerts where visitors can listen to classical music, with other interdisciplinary performing arts such as contemporary dance, circus performances, live theater and exhibitions within a beautiful forest setting.

The Sansusī Forest Food Court competition was run in partnership with the festival, tasking architects and designers to create a food court structure that could function as a central element to the event. The brief sought structures that could be assembled by hand and constructed of sustainable materials.

Buildner worked with an outstanding regional jury that included: Paula Gāgane, an architect and editor of the Latvian creative industries platform Fold; Uldis Trapencieris, a member of the Sansusī festival who is also a carpenter, producer of magazines, books, brand identities and ads, and the technical director of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra; Armands Siliņš-Bergmanis, an opera singer and board member of the Sansusī association: Ivars Veinbergs, an architect working with the Riga-based office NRJA (No Rules Just Architecture); Oskars Kotello,  an architect and co-founder of MERU arhitekti based in Riga; and Marija Katrina Dambe, a sustainable architect and founder of NOMAD architects.

Buildner and its jury panel would like to thank each of the international participants that submitted propositions to this event!

Updated: Summer Adventure - Building the Sansusi Food Court 

Embark on a fun summer adventure with us in this short film as we follow the winners of the Buildner's Sansusi Forest Food Court architecture competition on their trip to Latvia. Join the excitement as they bring their top prize-winning project to life—a lively food court for the Sansusi Music Festival.

COMPETITION ORGANISERS
Sansusī Forest 
Food Court
Official partner
Sansusī Forest 
Food Court
Enter the next competition edition
Sansusi Sound 
Sculpture

Design a wooden stage that functions as a musical instrument

Sansusī Edition #2 project COMPETITION

1st Prize Winner

Project name

Hanging out

For us, architectural competitions are a means to test and exchange ideas and approaches, grow professionally, and also an opportunity to bring our own projects to life and gain publicity.

Read full interview
Authors Mykhailo Zhuk, Daniil Chechin, Maria Levitskaya, Mariia Samahala
Country Austria
  • 9/10 Linework
  • 9/10 Quality of drawings
  • 9/10 Balance of color
  • 8/10 Layout
  • 9/10 Hierarchy
  • 7/10 Annotation
  • 8/10 Text
  • 8/10 Clarity of story
  • 9/10 Clarity of diagrams
  • 9/10 Quality of overall presentation

2nd Prize Winner

Project name

Re(treat)

During our time as undergraduate students, participating in architecture competitions enabled us to immerse ourselves in the design world and develop valuable skills in collaboration, time management, and graphic representation. To this day, we continue to enter architecture competitions as a means of exploring experimental and unconventional design. Above all, these competitions bring us immense enjoyment. The opportunity to select from a diverse range of prompts and sites ensures that we are always able to undertake projects that inspire and challenge us.

Read full interview
Authors Liam Martin, Laura-India Garinois
Country United States
  • 9/10 Linework
  • 9/10 Quality of drawings
  • 8/10 Balance of color
  • 8/10 Layout
  • 9/10 Hierarchy
  • 6/10 Annotation
  • 6/10 Text
  • 8/10 Clarity of story
  • 9/10 Clarity of diagrams
  • 8/10 Quality of overall presentation

3rd Prize Winner

Project name

The Banquet

We participate in competitions as they provide a great platform to stimulate and explore the creative potential of architecture. As recent graduates, competitions allow us to further develop and learn in a team-based environment, working within the parameters of the brief and critically questioning architectural processes and interventions.

Read full interview
Authors Andrei Nemes, Ash McCarthy, Alette Avsnes, Selma Gulden
Country Denmark
  • 8/10 Linework
  • 10/10 Quality of drawings
  • 7/10 Balance of color
  • 8/10 Layout
  • 9/10 Hierarchy
  • 7/10 Annotation
  • 6/10 Text
  • 8/10 Clarity of story
  • 8/10 Clarity of diagrams
  • 8/10 Quality of overall presentation

BUILDNER STUDENT AWARD

Project name

Sansusī Bond

Through gaining experience and building our portfolio, we cultivate self-motivation in our shared field of interest, potentially preparing ourselves to venture into our own business. Architecture competitions balance the conceptual image with the realization of construction, helping us maintain the necessary design sensitivity and stimulate our creativity.

Read full interview
Authors Yanguang Zhu, Zhiyan Xu, Qingdong Hu, Binghao Yao
Country United States
+72 points Buildner University Rankings
  • 9/10 Linework
  • 9/10 Quality of drawings
  • 9/10 Balance of color
  • 8/10 Layout
  • 9/10 Hierarchy
  • 7/10 Annotation
  • 8/10 Text
  • 8/10 Clarity of story
  • 9/10 Clarity of diagrams
  • 8/10 Quality of overall presentation

BUILDNER SUSTAINABILTY AWARD

Project name

The Soundbite Food Court

Competitions provide an ideal platform to nurture our creativity and explore new solutions. They allow us to discover new programs, develop innovative ideas, and break free from the constraints imposed by clients. Competitions enable us to be more radical, pushing us to develop concepts and ideas that may be more challenging and theoretical in nature.

Read full interview
Country Switzerland
  • 9/10 Linework
  • 10/10 Quality of drawings
  • 9/10 Balance of color
  • 9/10 Layout
  • 9/10 Hierarchy
  • 9/10 Annotation
  • 8/10 Text
  • 10/10 Clarity of story
  • 10/10 Clarity of diagrams
  • 10/10 Quality of overall presentation

Honorable Mentions

Show Honorables Mentions (6 of 6) Hide Honorables Mentions projects
Project name

Sansusī Forest Courtyard

Architecture competitions provide valuable insights into the current and future trends of the discipline. In addition to the chance to develop projects on fascinating topics, competitions push us to confront challenges in the best way we can imagine, enabling us to surpass our limits and transform our thinking. They serve as a training and improvement ground, similar to a visit to the gym for athletes.

Read full interview
Authors Grzegorz Oleniecki, Leticia Pacheco
Country Poland
Project name

Cloudburst Forest

Authors Jordan Scheuermann, Abdullah Tahseen, Austin Lightle
Country United States
Project name

Sonata

Project name

The Unity Table

Company Pe.Pl.CULT
Author Kristina Klimova
Country Kazakhstan
Project name

Otrā–āda

Authors Alexander Topilin, Krisztián Vnučko
Country Slovakia

Shortlisted projects

Show Shortlisted projects Hide Shortlisted projects

The Forest Wind Chime

Diego Sierra

Universidad Iberoamericana, IBERO

+72 points Buildner University Rankings!
Mexico

Caesura

Tsubasa Iwahashi

Japan

Project ID 119584

Shimin Zhou

Wanning Liao

University of California, UC Berkeley

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
United States

Common Feast

Laine nameda Lazda

Italy

Sansusi food court

Jurģis Prikulis

Latvia

The Banquet

Andrei Nemes

Ash McCarthy

Alette Avsnes

Selma Gulden

Denmark

the fringe

Yixuan Cai

United States

The Sound of Food

Jiseob Lee

Hamza Jumaa

Sabrina La

United Kingdom

Culinary Commons

Viktor Gekker

Jack Lehane

Ireland

THE GROVE

Ye Feng

Annie locke Scherer

Ron Aasholm

Merve Ünlü

Lundén Architecture Oy

Finland

overture

Bahar Orçun

Baran Göktepe

Abdullah Derya Çelik

Turkey

Biophilic Food Court of Arts

Alejandro Vera

Chile

LAND THAT SINGS

Long Kwan

Ryan Wai Yin Tung

Albert Ching Tao Leung

Jackie Ho Yin Cheung

United Kingdom

Curved Landscape

Jaehwi Lim

Junghyeon Oh

South Korea

Sansusī Forest Courtyard

Grzegorz Oleniecki

Leticia Pacheco

Poland

THE ARIA

Rabie Alashi

Lavinia Tarif

Saudi Arabia

The Soundbite Food Court

Nicolas Moser

Linh Pham

Quang Anh Ha

Khanh Duong

Multiply Office

Switzerland

The Hub

Zero Lim

Alson Lum

Nicholas Lim

Taylor's Lakeside Campus , Taylor's University

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Malaysia

Sansusi Atrium

Jungryun Kwon

South Korea

Piano

Yiwei Wang

Jeremy Yeh

Jia Yue Tan

University of California, UC Berkeley

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Singapore

Lung Of The Forest

Lindsey Authement

University of Louisiana at Lafayette

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
United States

Dinner Chime

Brendan Kelly

Sadie Imae

United States

Hanging out

Mykhailo Zhuk

Daniil Chechin

Maria Levitskaya

Mariia Samahala

Austria

ENCOUNTERS

Jinsu Park

Sigi Buzi

Switzerland

Sonata

Rizi Faruqui

Bang Dang

Alexis Chastain

Liliana Morales

United States

Soul of Sansusī

Dohyoung Kim

Soovin Kim

Dahoon Hyun

Jinheon Lee

Seoul National University

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
South Korea

Sansusī Bond

Yanguang Zhu

Zhiyan Xu

Qingdong Hu

Binghao Yao

University of California, UC Berkeley

+72 points Buildner University Rankings!
United States

SAGRIEZT - slice yourself a food court

Tai Orgaz goren

Dana Shay

Technion, Israel Institute of Technology

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Israel

The Unity Table

Kristina Klimova

Pe.Pl.CULT

Kazakhstan

The lantern in the forest

Quoc Uong

Thanh Hieu Nguyen

Australia

Otrā–āda

Alexander Topilin

Krisztián Vnučko

Slovakia

Cloudburst Forest

Jordan Scheuermann

Abdullah Tahseen

Austin Lightle

United States

BOXSCAPE

Serwan Saleme

Aran Saleme

Sahi Saleme

AADEX

United Kingdom

Sansusi Catering Huts

William Bargerhuff

Patrick Kotowski

United States

The Courts of Māra

Chang yuan max Hsu

United States

Food and Folly

Tom Monteyne

Canada

Mortise and Tenon

Xian Zhang

Studio Supernova

China

Belly of sansusi

Guangyu Zhang

Xiaojun Wang

Yuelin Tian

United Kingdom

Stacked - Inviting the Landscape

Bennet Harvey

Madison Leonard

Canada

Re(treat)

Liam Martin

Laura-India Garinois

United States