AS Kodumaja won the international woodhouse contest “Pre-fab House of the Year 2016”
This year the Estonian Woodhouse Association in cooperation with the Estonian Wooden Houses Cluster organised the international contest “Pre-fab House of the Year 2016” for the sixth time, where wooden houses from Norway, Sweden and Estonia built by Estonians participated. Yesterday the world’s tallest wooden house by AS Kodumaja located in Norway received the title of the best wooden house.
The development director of AS Kodumaja Elar Vilt receiving the first prize from the Minister of the Environment Marko Pomerants Photo: Maris Tomba
The development director of AS Kodumaja Elar Vilt stated when receiving the prize: “Building such a large house is not just a solo project but cooperation between the partners,” Vilt said and added: “If this cooperation works and there is synergy between the partners, then it is possible to do very good projects,” Vilt added.
According to Elar Vilt, winning the contest is a great honour for them: “Winning the ”Pre-fab House of the Year 2016” contest is a great recognition for us and we are especially glad that we are recognised by the best experts of our sector. AS Kodumaja values this very highly,” Vilt said. “The victory gives us confidence and belief that we are doing the right thing.”
The jury of the contest included architect Rajmund Sebök, TUT’s professor of Building Physics Targo Kalamees, the Ministry of Culture’s Architecture and Design Adviser Veronika Valk, TUT’s professor, director of the institute of Structural Design Jarek Kurnitski, the manager of the State Real Estate Ltd Department of Research and Development Margus Sarmet, architect Markus Kaasik and journalist Eva Kiisler.
The chair of the jury of „Pre-fab House of the Year 2016“ Jarek Kurnitski highlighted, that this year assessing different objects was difficult. „All of the best houses were built at a very high level and in terms of assessment it was difficult to look at the architectural and engineering general picture, in respect of which the best works offered an equal position and in the end the technical details decided who received a prize,” Kurnitski said.
The best works of the sector were named in five categories in total:
§ Overall winner –Kodumaja AS
§ Best timber frame private house – Matek AS
§ Best handcrafted log house – Hobbiton Home OÜ
§ Best machined log house – Ritsu AS
§ Best garden house – Greencube OÜ
The following special prizes were additionally given for the best engineering solutions and the public’s favourites:
The most energy efficient public building – Q-Haus Baltic OÜ
The most energy efficient building – Sense OÜ
Timber use special prize – Timbeco Woodhouse OÜ
Special prize for popularising the use of timber – Vipson Projekt OÜ
VELUX special prize for the best lighting solution – Finnlog OÜ
Best stone roof on a pre-fab house – Finnlog OÜ
Ruukki special prize for the smartest roof – Puitpaneel OÜ
Delfi moodnekodu.ee readers’ special prize – Finnlog OÜ
Ehitusuudised.ee – Puitpaneel OÜ
The awards gala took place yesterday as part of the opening party of the building fair “Estbuild” and the prizes were presented by the Minister of the Environment Marko Pomerants.
The contest was supported by: B&B Tools Estonia AS, Akzo Nobel Baltics AS, Saint-Gobain Ehitustooted AS, VELUX Eesti OÜ, Monier OÜ, Ruukki Products AS, Optimera Estonia AS, Äripäev AS, Ekspress Meedia AS (Delfi).
The Pre-fab House of the Year contest is partially funded by the full application project of companies exporting Estonian wooden houses, which is supported by Enterprise Estonia from the cluster development programme, which is funded by the European Regional Development Fund.
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