Iceland Slow Sauna - €10,000 - Registration Deadline 08 April 2026

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In the heart of North Iceland, where the earth breathes through steam vents and the horizon is sculpted by black lava, architecture is being called to do more than provide shelter. Buildner, in collaboration with Slow Travel Mývatn, invites visionaries to design the Iceland Slow Sauna—a sanctuary that explores the alchemical relationship between heat, light, and living growth.

• PRIZE FUND: 10,000 €

  • 1ST PLACE: 5,000 €

  • 2ND PLACE: 2,500 €

  • 3RD PLACE: 1,000 €

  • Student Award: 1,000 €

  • Sustainability Award: 500 € 

• DATE:

  • Competition Q&A deadline: 13 April 2026

  • Closing date for registration: 28 May 2026

  • Closing date for project submission: 11 May 2026 - 23:59 (London Time)

  • Announcement of the winners: 07 July 2026

• PARTICIPANT: Everyone (No professional qualifications required)

• COST: 140 € (Students: 120€)

BRIEF - Iceland Slow Sauna -ENG.pdf

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The Concept: A Ritual of Renewal

The sauna has long been a tectonic expression of stillness. It is a place where the body slows, and the mind unspools. However, this competition asks: What happens when the ritual doesn't end at the sauna door?

Participants are challenged to merge two seemingly opposite environments into one seamless structure:

• The Sauna: A realm of fire, stone, and intense, introspective heat.

• The Greenhouse: A chamber of light, fragility, and recovery, where life flourishes despite the sub-arctic chill.

This is not merely a design for a building, but a choreography of experience. Designers must navigate the transitions between shadow and brilliance, the scent of cedar and the smell of damp earth, and the movement from the restorative sweat of the sauna to the oxygen-rich calm of the greenhouse.

The Setting: Lake Mývatn

The site sits within the mystical landscape of Lake Mývatn, a place defined by its "volcanic calm." The project is an extension of Þúfa, a private homestay crafted by Óli and Bianca. Their philosophy—Slowness—is the heartbeat of this brief. They seek an architecture that doesn't dominate the landscape but listens to it, utilizing tactile materials and sensitive forms to ground the human experience in the Icelandic wilderness.

Recognition will be awarded to designs that best embody sustainability, poetic sensitivity, and functional elegance.

The challenge is not to build larger, but to build with sensitivity—to explore how a simple act of sweating can become a profound experience of presence.

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