UPM challenges design professionals in 24 hours competition

UPM Timber organises an open wood design competition on 17—18 April 2009. The WISA 24h Wooden Design Workshop challenges architects, industrial designers, creative designers and students to show their talent during an intensive 24h design workshop. The aim of the competition is to design a bold, inspiring and distinguishable wooden building to a visible location in Helsinki.

The WISA 24h Wooden Design Workshop's rules and competition programme will be revealed on Friday 17 April at noon Helsinki time on www.wisa24h.com web site. The competition starts simultaneously and ends 24 hours later on Saturday 18 April at noon Helsinki time. For more information about the competition, please visit the web site www.wisa24h.com.

The winning work will be built in the middle of Helsinki with spectacular views and surroundings. Due to the nature of the competition, the location will not be revealed before the competition starts.

The WISA 24h is a new, groundbreaking competition format. In addition to the limited time of the design work, the unique format of the object and the place of the final building are very challenging and striking. The competition's building materials are Finnish pine and spruce.

Wood has an established position in the building and housing industry in Finland. With the WISA 24h competition, UPM aims to raise public discussion about Finnish wood architecture and its role in urban surroundings.

The jury of the WISA 24h Wooden Design Workshop is chaired by Mr Tuomas Rajajärvi from the Helsinki City Planning Department. The jury consists of the following members: Mr Pekka Heikkinen, Professor of Architecture, Helsinki University of Technology; Mr Ilkka Terho, Industrial Designer; Mr Juha Miettinen, Vice President, Sales, UPM Timber and Mr Antti Ratia, Head of Communications, UPM Timber.

WISA 24h Wooden Design Workshop competition is supported by the City of Helsinki.