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Introduction
Buildner is pleased to announce the results of The Architect’s Chair #5 competition, the fifth edition of this annual international design challenge inviting architects, designers, and creative thinkers to rethink one of the most essential objects in our built environment through the lens of architecture, materiality, and human experience. The competition asked participants to design a chair that goes beyond utility, encouraging proposals that balance ergonomics, craftsmanship, innovation, sustainability, and strong conceptual clarity.
This year’s competition attracted an exceptionally diverse range of submissions, reflecting the enduring relevance of the chair as both a functional object and a powerful design statement. Across the entries, participants explored a broad spectrum of approaches, from highly minimal and structurally efficient solutions to more expressive designs rooted in cultural references, material experimentation, and sculptural form. Many projects demonstrated a strong understanding of how furniture can operate at the intersection of architecture and product design, where proportion, joinery, structure, and tactile experience become equally important.
Material exploration emerged as a particularly strong theme throughout this edition. Designers worked with wood, bent veneer, cork, woven fibers, leather, and hybrid material systems, often using material behavior as a central driver of form and construction. Several proposals focused on reducing complexity through simplified assembly systems, visible joinery, and modular construction strategies that emphasized repairability, flat-pack efficiency, and long-term sustainability. Others drew inspiration from vernacular craft traditions, translating historical references and local construction methods into contemporary furniture pieces with strong visual identity and cultural depth.
The jury particularly appreciated projects that successfully balanced conceptual ambition with technical resolution. The most compelling entries demonstrated not only strong visual presence, but also a convincing understanding of ergonomics, manufacturability, structural logic, and long-term usability. Across the submissions, it was clear that the strongest chairs were those in which formal clarity, comfort, material intelligence, and construction logic worked together seamlessly.
The Architect’s Chair #5 once again highlighted the chair as a uniquely challenging design object, requiring precision, restraint, and a deep understanding of both human use and material behavior. This year’s submissions demonstrated an impressive range of ideas and design approaches, reaffirming the chair’s continued importance as a vehicle for innovation, craftsmanship, and architectural thinking.
Buildner is also pleased to announce that registration is now open for The Architect’s Chair #6, organized in partnership with the Stockholm Furniture Fair. The next edition continues this exploration of furniture design at the intersection of architecture, craft, and innovation, offering participants an exciting opportunity to engage with one of the world’s leading platforms for furniture and design. Learn more and register here: https://architecturecompetitions.com/architectschairstockholm/
We sincerely thank our jury panel
for their time and expertise
Extended list of jury biographies
Inma Bermúdez
Studio Inma Bermúdez
Spain
Sebastian Alberdi
industrial designer
Spain
Torbjørn Anderssen
Anderssen & Voll
Norway
Boris Berlin
Founder and Partner at Boris Berlin Design
Denmark
Sarah Hossli
Product designer
Switzerland
Gudmundur Ludvik
Welling / Ludvik
Denmark
Thomas Lykke
OEO Studio
Denmark
Lorenz Noelle
Product designer
Germany
Sofie Østerby
Sofie Østerby
Denmark
Espen Voll
Anderssen & Voll
Norway
Hee Welling
Welling / Ludvik
Denmark
1st Prize Winner
Helical
Hong Kong
Jury feedback summary
“Helical” proposes an adjustable stool that reduces seating to its most essential components: form, material, and mechanism. Built around a cylindrical monolithic geometry, the project uses an internal helical interlocking system to allow manual height adjustment without relying on conventional hardware, gas lifts, or complex mechanical systems. Instead, the stool operates through a simple rotational movement, revealing a carefully integrated logic of grooves, friction, and alignment.
Buildner's commentary, recommendations and techniques review
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The presentation communicates the project with clarity and restraint, reflecting the product’s minimal and honest design language. The renders are clean and effective, showing the stool clearly across different height positions while emphasizing the consistency of its cylindrical form. The material palette is particularly successful, with the natural warmth and texture of cork giving the object a strong tactile identity and immediate visual appeal.
2nd Prize Winner
Cantilever chair
United States
Jury feedback summary
“Cantilever” explores the classic cantilever chair typology through a refined and highly reduced formal language. The design is composed of two primary bent veneer shell elements—seat/back and base—connected through a minimal set of structural fasteners and spacers that create both visual lightness and structural stability.
Buildner's commentary, recommendations and techniques review
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This presentation is highly polished and communicates the project with strong visual clarity and confidence. The restrained palette, minimal layout, and carefully composed renderings reinforce the chair’s clean and contemporary identity. The product photography and contextual images are especially effective in showing both the sculptural quality of the chair and its versatility across different environments, from residential interiors to auditorium seating.
3rd Prize Winner
La Chair
South Korea
Jury feedback summary
La Chair explores the relationship between frame, suspension, and material contrast through a deliberately reduced architectural language. Drawing from traditional Korean architectural principles, the design is organized around a rigid timber structure paired with a suspended vegetable leather seat, creating a clear dialogue between solid and flexible elements.
Buildner's commentary, recommendations and techniques review
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The presentation communicates the project with clarity and restraint, reflecting the chair’s minimal and architectural character. The renderings are clean and well-composed, successfully highlighting the contrast between the rigid timber frame and the soft suspended leather seat. Materiality is one of the strongest aspects of the proposal, with the warm oak and neutral leather palette creating a calm and refined visual identity.
Buildner Student Award
Jige Chair
Jury feedback summary
The Jige Chair draws from the structural logic and visual language of the traditional Korean jige, reinterpreting this vernacular carrying tool as a contemporary seating object. The design translates the original object’s distinctive tripod-like stability, diagonal bracing, and structural efficiency into a chair defined by lightness, openness, and material restraint.
Buildner's commentary, recommendations and techniques review
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The presentation is visually elegant and highly atmospheric, with dramatic lighting and strong contrast reinforcing the chair’s sculptural qualities and material warmth. The restrained palette works particularly well here, allowing the wood tones and woven seat to stand out while emphasizing the project’s calm and timeless character. The renderings communicate the object clearly and help highlight its distinctive silhouette from multiple angles.
Buildner Sustainability Award
Anastasia
Jury feedback summary
“Anastasia” reinterprets a lounge chair through a highly reduced geometric language, combining bent wood elements with a live-edge slab backrest to create a piece that balances structural rhythm and material contrast. The chair is constructed from repeated curved slats that form the seat and base, generating both visual lightness and ergonomic support through their continuous loop geometry.
Buildner's commentary, recommendations and techniques review
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The project presents a clear and memorable formal concept, with the curved slatted base creating a strong visual identity and an immediately recognizable silhouette. The contrast between the repeated bent elements and the solid vertical backrest is particularly successful, giving the chair both rhythm and sculptural presence. The sustainability narrative around the reuse of Emerald Ash Borer-affected ash adds meaningful depth to the proposal and strengthens its material story.
Honorable mentions
Shortlisted projects


















