The CASA (Romanian for ‘house’) student design competition was launched by Romanian students of architecture in 2009. Their aim was to prompt sophomores to provide creative answers to real-life architectural problems. This initiative has continued to expand over the past seventeen years and has by now grown into an international event. Year after year, students from architectural schools in Romania, Serbia and Hungary take part in the joint designing challenge.
Students from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Debrecen joined the program in 2022 for the first time. They have been regular participants in the international competition ever since.
CASA17, this year’s competition, was hosted by the Department of Architectural Design of Széchenyi István University in Győr. The call for designs resulted in about 260 entries by students and 35 by lecturers from seven universities in Hungary and Romania altogether.
- The designing task assigned was closely related to the Faculty of Music of Széchenyi István University, which is currently located in the building of the former synagogue in Győr. The participants had to design a building that would both serve the purpose of long-term housing for students and would also be available for short-term accommodation for visiting guest lecturers and artists-in-residence. The residential function had to be complemented with venues for rehearsal and practicing music, while a community café, which is open to the city’s residents, also had to be included. This latter was supposed to be used to accommodate minor cultural events, concerts, reading sessions and group discussions- said Zoltán Major, Assistant Professor of the Department of Architecture at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Debrecen.
Representing the University of Debrecen at the designing competition, there were as many as twenty teams of two students each.
- Taking part in an international competition like this is a particularly valuable experience for our students. It is not only about encountering and solving a real-life architectural task, but also about designing in a team, which is a new challenge for them, contributing to their professional development- said Zoltán Major.
At the competition, the entries were adjudicated by a three-member international jury of renowned architects.
Designs by the teams consisting of Lili Krajnyák - Hanga Végh, Csilla Molnár - Kitti Viszlai and Bendegúz Fehér - Tamás Ócsai were selected to be among the twenty-eight best entries from students at the University of Debrecen.
The ten best entries in the international competition included designs by Zsófia Szűcs and Ildikó Tasnádi, as well as Stefánia Fónagy, which is a resounding success for the students of architecture at the University of Debrecen.
Press Center – OCs