GreenWURks wins Student Challenge

© Luuk Zegers

The final, in which 14 teams from universities from six different countries pitches their designs in front of a jury, saw GreenWURks come out victorious. The jury also praised GreenWURks’ design ‘Open Bajes’ (video) for the fact that the team had thought more deeply about the financial feasibility of the plan than the other teams. In Open Bajes, high-tech production is combined with the involvement of the neighbourhood. According to GreenWURks, the innovative, circular and modular plant production system of Open Bajes would be able to feed all 3000 new inhabitants of the Bijlmer dwelling.

Greenhouse Challenge

The Greenhouse Challenge is Wageningen’s approach to student competitions such as the World Solar Challenge. The assignment was to design a greenhouse, as sustainable as possible, which would involve citizens in the sustainable production of nutritious foods in one of the towers of the former Bijlmer Prison. As such, the Bijlmer Prison acts as a model for comparable places around the world: buildings in urban areas that are given a new purpose.

Screenshot from the artist’s impression of the winning design Open Bajes. © GreenWURks

Student Challenge 2020: China

After the winners had received their prize, Arnold Bregt announced that the second Student Challenge will be held in 2020. The assignment will revolve around a location in China that is yet to be determined. Rabobank also announced that they would be the main sponsor for two of the five Student Challenges in the next ten years.

Coordinator Rio Pals explains: ‘The idea behind this Challenge is to further increase the potentials of urban agriculture by inspecting which innovations are feasible and turning those into realisable concepts. An international, multidisciplinary student challenge in which teams develop an integral concept for an urban agriculture project.’ Students of about 40 universities from ten different countries participated in a total of 24 teams.

Additional reading:

• Students Greenhouse Challenge enter final phase

  Student – 31 July 2018 10:00-While their fellow students were on holiday, the students of GreenWURks worked hard in the Atlas basement. They finalised their design for an urban…

• Blog: Now that the deadline is rapidly approaching, the alarm bells have started to ring

  Student – 28 June 2018 11:00-Lotje Hogerzeil (25), MSc Urban Systems Engineering, blogs about her participation in the Student Challenge of 2018: Design the Ultimate Sustainable…

• Bijlmerbajes transformeert tot stadskas

  Student – 04 April 2018 13:45-Deelnemers van alle teams van The Ultimate Greenhouse Challenge komen deze week naar de Bijlmerbajes om bijgepraat te worden over urban farming.