The façade of a house is its face, reflecting the unique style and personality of its occupants. Through the Baumit Life Challenge, we embark on a journey to unveil the rich potential within plaster, exploring the dynamic interplay of diverse materials, textures, forms, and colors. Join us in reimagining the way we perceive and utilize this versatile medium, and discover the boundless creativity it holds.
In 2012, Baumit unveiled "Life" - a groundbreaking color program for façades, marking Europe's largest of its kind. Fueled by imagination, craftsmanship, and a palette of vibrant hues, this initiative sparked the birth of the Baumit Life Challenge.
Since its inaugural success in Vienna (Austria) in 2014, the Baumit Life Challenge has become a biennial celebration, honoring the most exceptional façades across Europe. Drawing in around 500 attendees from all European Baumit-affiliated countries, the event gathers the crème de la crème of Baumit architects, investors, and partners. Join us in this exhilarating tribute to architectural excellence and innovative design.
A panel of independent experts assesses over 300 projects spanning all Baumit-affiliated nations. From these, the top 6 façades in each category are selected as "nominees" for the grand award ceremony. Just before the event, the expert jury will bestow the ultimate winners in each category, including the coveted Life Challenge Award, reserved for the pinnacle of façade design.
In addition to expert evaluations, we invite everyone to participate in the public voting process. Starting approximately two months prior to the award ceremony, you have the opportunity to cast your vote for your favorite façades, amplifying the democratic celebration of outstanding architectural achievements.
These are the categories of the Baumit Life Challenge.
The Life Challenge Award 2024 went to the Market in Pécs, Hungary by Tamás Getto, Gergely Sztranyak, Gettoplan Bt.
The Life Challenge Award 2022 went to the Cukrarna gallery in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Architect: Scapelab d.o.o.
The Life Challenge Award 2021 went to MO Museum in Vilnus (LT). Architects: “Studio Libeskind” and “Do Architects”. Constructor: UAB „Naresta“.
Baumit Slovakia hosted the third event at the Philharmony in Bratislava. More than 320 projects were judged by the jury panel in 2018 making Spain the winner.
The Life Challenge 2016 in Madrid attracted more than 400 architects, developers and applicators from 21 countries. A Slovakian facade took home the main award.
The first award in Vienna, Austria was the kick-off event. An international expert jury of 15 selected architects awarded a Spanish facade as the Life Challenge winner of 2014.
If you own, built or designed a building with a Baumit facade that has what it takes to win in one of the categories or even the main prize then get in touch with us and submit it for the next edition of Life Challenge. We are looking forward to hearing from you!
I. Purpose of the Competition
Baumit Life Challenge is an international architecture and façade competition that is held every two years (Biennale).
The aim of the competition is to honour outstanding façade projects that combine architectural creativity, design quality, the professional use of Baumit products and systems as well as high-quality execution.
The Baumit Life Challenge aims to highlight the importance of architecture and façade design for the built environment and to reward projects that make a sustainable contribution to the design of living spaces and create value for future generations.
II. Organizer
Baumit Beteiligungen GmbH
Wopfing 1562754 Waldegg, Austria
Commercial Register Number: FN 171752 b, UID No.: ATU45402407
III. Eligibility
The Baumit Life Challenge is held as a biennial.
Projects that have been completed within the two calendar years preceding the year of the event are eligible to participate.
Examples:
Life Challenge 2028: Completion in 2026 or 2027
Life Challenge 2030: Completion in 2028 or 2029
The submission deadline ends on January 31 of the event year, unless the organizer announces a different deadline.
The following are eligible to participate:
Architects
Builders / Investors
General contractor or executing company
The prerequisite for participation is the proper submission of the official registration form.
Each Baumit state organisation can nominate a maximum of six projects per category for the international Baumit Life Challenge.
The projects are selected by the respective Baumit state organisation. There is no legal entitlement to nomination.
The prerequisite for participation is that Baumit products and/or Baumit systems were predominantly used in the implementation of the project.
The respective Baumit state organisation checks compliance with this requirement as well as the professional application of the Baumit products and systems used.
Projects nominated for the shortlist by the international jury will receive an invitation to the official Life Challenge Gala.
IV. Categories of the competition
The projects will be evaluated in the following categories:
1. Single Family House
Single-family houses with individual architectural design and independent character.
2. Multi Family Residential
Multi-family houses and residential complexes with a special focus on quality of living, social responsibility and urban integration.
3. Non-Residential Building
Commercial, public or other non-residential buildings with convincing architectural and functional design.
4. Thermal Renovation
Energy-efficient renovation projects that lead existing buildings into the future in terms of technology and design.
5. Historical Renovation
Rehabilitation and restoration of historically valuable buildings, taking into account their cultural heritage and sensitive architectural development.
6. Stunned by Texture
Projects that achieve a special architectural effect through the creative and innovative use of plaster, surface structures and materiality.
The organizer reserves the right to assign projects to another category if this is deemed necessary for an appropriate evaluation.
V. Exclusion of participants
The Promoter reserves the right to exclude entrants or submitted projects from the Competition at any time if:
inaccurate, incomplete or misleading information has been provided;
the necessary consents, approvals or rights of third parties do not exist;
the conditions of participation are not complied with;
attempts at manipulation during submission or voting are detected;
there are other circumstances that may impair the proper conduct of the competition or damage the reputation of the competition.
An exclusion can also be made retrospectively if the relevant circumstances only become known after the nomination or award ceremony.
VI. Liability of the organizer
Any liability of the organizer is limited or excluded - as far as legally permissible. The organiser is only liable for damage caused if the organiser is directly responsible for the occurrence of the damage and if an exclusion of liability would be legally inadmissible, for example because the company is guilty of intent or gross negligence.
Liability for technical faults, loss of data, transmission errors, failures of communication networks, servers or software as well as for other circumstances beyond the control of the organiser is excluded, provided that the organiser has taken the state-of-the-art security measures.
The organizer assumes no liability for the accuracy, completeness or legality of the information, documents, images or other content provided by the participants.
The participants indemnify the organizer against all claims by third parties that are asserted based on the submitted documents or an infringement of the rights of third parties.
VII. No legal entitlement to nomination or award
Participation in the competition does not constitute a claim to a nomination, shortlist placement, invitation to the gala, award ceremony or other services of the organiser.
The decisions of the jury are final and binding for all participants.
A statement of reasons for the jury's decision is not owed.
VIII. Equality of votes
If there is a tie between two or more projects in an evaluation phase, the jury decides in a separate vote.
If no decision can be reached in this way either, the vote of the jury chairman will decide.
Alternatively, the jury can decide to nominate or award several projects of equal rank.
IX. Copyright and rights of use
The entrant warrants that he/she has all the rights necessary to participate in the competition and that the submission does not infringe any rights of third parties.
With the submission, the participant grants the organizer a non-exclusive and free right of use to the submitted documents, images, photographs, texts, plans and other materials that is unrestricted in terms of time, space and content.
This right of use includes, in particular, the right to:
Publication,
Reproduction,
dissemination,
Processing,
Archiving,
Presentation in print and online media,
use in social media,
Use for marketing, press and communication purposes of the competition and the Baumit brand.
The participant confirms that the necessary consents of the authors, photographers and other rights holders have been obtained.
X. Data protection
The processing of personal data is carried out in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the applicable national data protection regulations.
The data collected in the context of the competition will be processed exclusively for the following purposes:
Implementation and organisation of the competition;
communication with participants;
Jury and evaluation process;
publication of competition results;
Press, marketing and public relations work in connection with the competition;
Fulfilment of legal retention and documentation obligations.
By submitting, the participant confirms that he or she is entitled to transmit the personal data provided to the organizer.
Entrants acknowledge that names, features, project data, images, and other information related to the Contest may be published and processed worldwide.
Further information on data processing can be found in the data protection declaration of the organizer under baumit.com.
XI. Modifications, interruption or cancellation of the competition
The organizer reserves the right to change, interrupt, postpone or cancel the competition in whole or in part at any time for objective reasons.
This applies in particular to:
force majeure;
technical problems;
official orders;
security risks;
unforeseeable organizational circumstances;
too few qualified submissions.
The participants do not have any claims against the organizer as a result.
XII. Applicable law and jurisdiction
All legal relationships between the organiser and the participants shall be governed exclusively by Austrian law to the exclusion of its conflict of law rules and the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.
The exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from or in connection with the competition is the court with jurisdiction in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. However, the organizer is entitled to sue participants based outside Austria also at their general place of jurisdiction
XIII. Legal Recourse
Legal recourse with regard to evaluation, nomination, shortlisting, jury decisions and awarding of prizes is excluded.
The decisions of the organizer and the jury are final and incontestable.
XIV. Severability clause
If individual parts of these terms and conditions of participation are invalid or unenforceable, the remaining validity remains unaffected. Ineffective provisions shall be deemed to have been replaced by comparable effective provisions which correspond to the invalid provisions as far as possible in terms of meaning and purpose and economic result.
