The Winners of 120 Hour Competition

The jury was impressed by the volume and extremely high quality of entries, both conceptually and technically. All the proposals and responses to the competition brief were variously thoughtful, innovative, artistic, dynamic and considered with a remarkable amount of work achieved in a very short time. 

The jury has selected “Untitled” as the winner of the 120 HOURS competition. The project poetically provides a solution to the task, but also creates and generates a programme for tourists of the cruise. It forces visitors to the site to actively engage in the landscape – to climb and experience Norwegian nature not just passively view or observe it. 

The “Untitled” is a monumental idea, one that uses architecture as an artistic or influential strategy. The views of the structure change and vary from the position of the viewer - from the village, from the viewing points in the mountains and from the passengers arriving from the cruise ships. The relationship to nature is profound and strong – contrasting and enhancing. It is a conversation with the landscape, paths – cutting through territories. 

The jury found the design actively and formally engages the context and natural condition. We found that the staircases provide a mysticism and intrigue that stretches the capacity of architecture to not just provide a solution to a brief, but to generate a new programme and elegantly provides a solution to the task of the architect in the face of the sublime.

The following were the winning entries. Looking like great pieces of art:

1st place - "UNTITLED" - Hugo Enlart, Eva Maloisel, Charles Aubertin, Ecole Speciale d´Architecture, Paris, France

The strongest part of the proposal, and the reason it was elevated to winner of the competition is that the design actively influences the situation in

Geieranger in a way that is positive and sensitive to nature. Too often tourists arrive, take the bus to various viewing points and leave. Architecture should do more than is required – and this project elevates the task of architecture to connect individuals to the site in a physical way. It is a simple, striking and dynamic design – one that draws different experiences from eye level, to the village from the top view. It has nature, aesthetics and scale. — with Samuel J De B, Charlie Brown, Camille Dupont, Eva Maloisel and Francis Frances Howard.

2nd place - "THE GEIRANGER HUG PROMENADE" - Boris Kanka, Vendula Urbanova - FUA TUL, Liberec, Czech Republic

We found this project extremely impressive. The proposal takes a meticulous, thoughtful approach demonstrating a great capacity for architectural thinking. From programme, viability, sustainable, relationship to village, clarity of vision. It is a natural solution a strong formal gesture which strengthens the shape of the bay and is conscious of the dual life of the bay in summer and winter.

3rd place (split) - "1 CITY, 2 SCALES" - Thiago Fernandes de Almeida, Priscila Moreno Bellas - Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This proposal has a clear vision both on the entire system of tourism and landscape of the site. It is a very professional and a clear spatial statement and strong intervention and a completely new condition. It’s also very thorough elegaant architectural solution as well as the larger proposal of transforming and preserving the bay from the cruise ships. The jury admired this project but questioned the appropriateness of the solution for the particular site.

 3rd place (split) - "GEIRANGER DEEP DOCK" - David Haberts, Anna Fink - Academie van Bouwkunst Amsterdam, The Netherlands

This is one of the strongest projects that attempt to take on the issue of sustainability identified in the brief. It merges well with nature – on one hand disappearing and one hand generating. It’s a exciting, ecological ecosystem. Technically, logistically impressive in the time given.