The German prize-winners in the international students' competition for concrete have now been selected at the German Architecture Centre, DAZ, in Berlin. 130 students from 36 universities had taken part in the cement and concrete industry's tendering competition and a total of 82 entries were submitted on this year's theme 'Monolithic'.

In this competition the students were called upon to present their ideas on the term 'Monolithic'. Torsten Förster (Federal Association of the German Cement Industry), who organises the competition in Germany says: "Above all it's about inspiring the students to concern themselves intensively with concrete and to discover the known and unknown characteristics of the building material. The task was then to develop new design ideas for various functions. We were impressed by the variety of the projects submitted. There is virtually no area where the students had no ideas for the application and further development of concrete." Hence, in addition to suggestions ranging from furniture and architectural details through to complete building designs and urban/rural planning projects, the participants also submitted proposals for the further development of concrete in terms of both material and technology.

The Concrete Design Competition is an international student competition for concrete initiated by the European cement and concrete manufacturers and has taken place every two years since 2003. The aim is to offer a platform for the further development of materialrelated architecture. The competition for students of architecture, interior decoration, civil engineering, design and related disciplines is intended above all to give food for thought, promote planning experimentation and to make a contribution to the public perception of design and construction in keeping with the material. With its international orientation and its complex requirement in terms of content, it occupies a special place among the students' competitions: The material-related and integrative approach beyond the various disciplines is trend-setting and exemplary.

In making the decisions the jury, which this year included Professors Stephan Engelsmann and Regine Leibinger, considered the implementation and elaboration of the project draughts in addition to the interpretation of the competition theme and the newness of the ideas. The successful students in the three equally ranked prize-winning teams receive an invitation to the Concrete Design Master Class in Istanbul – all international prize-winners meet here in August 2010 – in addition to the prize money of 1,000 Euros. On top of that two further students received a special mention from the jury, which carries prize money of 500 Euros in each case.