How should a presidential residence look like?

The 25th anniversary of the international student competition Xella will focus on discussions and ideological solutions for the presidential residence in the 21st century. This year's challenge for future architects is to create an architectural and urban study under the title "Presidential Residence - Presidential Villa in Bratislava's Slavín". The patronage of this year is held by the President of the Slovak Republic, Mrs. Zuzana Čaputová. Students can submit their projects to the competition until February 24, 2020.

The long-discussed topic of dignified housing for the head of state in Slovakia has become this year's theme of the prestigious student competition. The submitted architectural and urban studies aim to bring different perspectives on how the president and currently the president of the Slovak Republic could live dignifiedly, with appropriate standards and in line with required security. The projects will showcase various spatial solutions that can be offered on the given plot of land under Slavín, in accordance with global trends in similar types of high diplomatic housing and the highest representative of the state.

"The assignment of this year's appealing theme will raise questions for students that provoke thoughts about the connections of the presidential residence, its localization, and the position of the given plot of land", states Assoc. Prof. Ing. Arch. Ľubica Selcová, PhD., a lecturer from the Faculty of Architecture STU and the expert guarantor of the competition. "The land managed by the Office of the President of the Slovak Republic is situated on one of the highest and most dominant points above the center of Bratislava, which can also be perceived from a historical perspective as suitable for building the head of state’s residence. The presidential residence should serve as a home during the term of office while also being a representative venue during official working meetings", she adds.

Attractive theme and jury

Anonymous student works will be evaluated for two full days by a prestigious jury composed of Slovak and Czech architects. Among the main criteria for assessment will be the creativity of the conceptual solution to the assignment, the placement of the object on the plot in the context of the entire specific area, adherence to the functional requirements of the residence, the architectural solutions of the residence, and the graphical clarity of the proposal. The assignment will be available to students at the beginning of the winter semester, they will submit their works by the end of February, and the jury will meet by mid-March 2020.

"We value the opportunity to meet, debate, argue, and agree in mutual respect and acknowledgment", says Ing. Arch. Ľubomír Závodný, a longtime jury member and the current head of student works at FA STU. "Every year, I look forward to the influx of creativity, critical discussions, and theoretical reflections during the assessment of proposals in this inspiring competition, which annually brings a wealth of beautiful ideas and meaningful solutions", adds Ľubomír Závodný.

Valuable experience and open doors to success

The goal of the competition is to support the creative ingenuity of students through competitive confrontation of ideas and thoughts and to gain practical experience in project creation. "Original architectural themes and the quality of the competition proposals have undoubtedly contributed to the fact that such a number of prominent figures from Czech and Slovak architecture is involved in the assessment of student works. Their renown helps spread the positive response to the competition among students and annually attracts dozens of promising architects. By following the paths of participants from previous years, we can proudly state that for many of them, the competition has become a successful springboard into the professional world of architecture", says Ing. Peter Markovič, General Director of Xella, the competition organizer.

"The expertise of jury members, who directly call the winners during their internal decision-making to announce the results in good spirits while the entire team can be heard cheering in the background, was definitely one of the moments of the competition that I will never forget," recalls Ing. Arch. Adriana Trebuľová, born Kleinová, an awarded student of the 23rd competition in Banská Štiavnica. "The knowledge that a large group of architects with renowned names has decided to recognize my concept motivates me that I am moving in the right direction towards the unknown professional world of architecture with similar thinking about architecture", she adds.

Detailed information about the competition can be found here.