Press

Bratislava/Wopfing, June 2018 – On Thursday, 14 June 2018 at the Slovak Philharmonic, Baumit presented the Baumit Life Challenge Award for the European Façade of the Year. In their final jury session, 13 highly respected architects selected the winners in the single-family house, multi-family residential, non-residential building, thermal renovation and historic renovation categories, as well as the special category, "Stunned by Texture".

The Spanish project, "COLLECTIVE HOUSING AND HEALTH CENTRE", from the architectural team of Bonell i Gil & Peris + Toral was selected as the overall winner of the Baumit Life Challenge 2018. Three other countries had reason to be cheerful: Slovenia – with even 2 category wins - as well as Czech Republik, Germany and Austria with each one category prize. Spain also celebrated another victory, winning the award for the "Thermal Renovation" category.

"In 2014, we opened the Baumit Life Challenge to entrants from all over Europe for the first time, in order to showcase the countless creative possibilities for designing façade surfaces and structures. The growing international interest in this award shown by architects, investors and contractors - we received 325 entries this year - inspired us to hold the Baumit Life Challenge every two years," said Robert Schmid, CEO of Baumit Beteiligungen GmbH, as he hailed a splendid evening "in which Europe's construction industry celebrated the winners in the manner that they deserved".

Caption from left: Robert Schmid (CEO of Baumit Beteiligungen GmbH), presenter Vera Wister, Marta Peris and José Manuel Toral (the architectural firm Bonell i Gil & Peris + Toral), Alfred Gsandtner (Director Baumit International) and Baumit Spain CEO Fernando Arrabé Gomez.

Photo credits: Dimova Yuliya /Baumit

Five categories, one special prize
The motto of Life Challenge 2018 was "Stunned by Texture". This year, as well as the categories of Single Family House, Apartment Building and Non-Residential, and the two categories of Thermal Refurbishment and Historic Renovation, there was a special prize for buildings with an exceptional façade structure. Each of the six category winners received EUR 6,660 in prize money. The overall winner was awarded EUR 9,900. These sums are not chosen randomly, as 66 percent of each façade can be fashioned using Baumit products.