Harvested: Buildings with the Scent of Wood Awards Students of the Faculty of Architecture

The competition aims to encourage young architects to work with wood as a sustainable and timeless material. This year, 50 projects were submitted by contestants from Czech and Slovak universities. The award ceremony took place during a social evening at the WOOD CAMP LIVE professional conference in Brno. The winning entries were selected by a seven-member professional jury, and a Public Choice Award was also presented.

Martin Šnobr placed first twice with his project Střed Středokluk—receiving awards from both the professional jury and the public in the Small Timber Structures category. This landscape object, installed at the cadastral center of the village, was realized by students of the Vojtík–Záhora Urban Space Studio as a design-build project that translates the village's footprint into a 1:100 scale. Střed (The Center) serves as a playground, amphitheater, sculpture, and resting place all in one.

In the same category, the jury awarded third place to Ema Bohdanecká for her work RD Hrádek – A Place of Return. Her design for a family house set in the rolling landscape of Eastern Bohemia offers an opportunity to rethink the meaning of home. Designed for a family of four, the building is intended to be not only a functional base for daily life but also a place where the family can breathe, slow down, observe the seasons, and experience ordinary days with exceptional lightness.

All three top spots in the Large Timber Structures category were swept by FA projects. Eliška Cibulková and Natálie Vedralová won first place for their Podolí Cooperative House design. The structure, featuring cooperative apartments, is designed using CLT panels, with a layer of winter gardens facing the street and a gallery (pavlač) facing the courtyard. The layouts allow for flexibility and changes in apartment sizes according to the cooperative's needs, while also supporting co-living formats. As an added function, the authors proposed a childcare group and shared workshops on the ground floor, and a community greenhouse on the roof.

Second place went to Karolína Šimonová for the Conversion of the Košíře Depot. The chosen program for the site is a municipal bath with an indoor pool. The original building is approached with great sensitivity; to maintain continuity with the historic structure, the new hall for the pool was designed primarily with timber trusses. The project also includes the creation of a new public square in front of the building.

Third place was awarded to Štěpán Macek for his work Place of Recovery – Kluk Seclusion. The project explores the potential of the site—both the house and the landscape—for the recovery process. Sanctuary is understood here in a broader sense: a space not only for solitude, peace, and reflection but also for community sharing and therapy within the context of nature. The landscape becomes an active therapeutic element, offering opportunities for contemplation and rediscovering inner peace.

A Special Jury Mention was awarded to Štěpán Lucký for Sklubovna. The design introduces a new building aimed at revitalizing community life in Hořovice. Simultaneously, it utilizes a reinforced section of the Červený potok stream bed, reimagining it as a pleasant outdoor seating area.

The Public Choice Award in the Large Timber Structures category was won by Kryštof Demel with his project HUB in Deštné. The work focuses on the reactivation of the current Museum of Crafts and Winter Sports. The existing building is stripped of insensitive additions and complemented by a new architectural intervention. A cultural and community hub is created on-site, its form derived both from the potential of the location itself and an exploration of the building's historical functions.