- Modelium Project -

Does Slovak Construction Have a Future? The international Modelium competition shows that we certainly have building talent. In the Slovak final of this high school contest, SOŠ Námestovo II emerged victorious. Advancing to the superfinal alongside them are SOŠ Námestovo I, SPŠS Nitra I, and SPŠS Nitra II. They will compete against four Czech teams for the overall victory at the City Campus of the University of Ostrava on 30 October 2025.

The Modelium competition is gaining increasing prestige among young builders. This year, students were tasked with creating models from corrugated cardboard on the theme “National Pavilion for the World Expo.” The Slovak final featured six teams – two from SOŠ Námestovo, two from SPŠS Nitra, and two from the Secondary School of Technology and Design in Poprad. The projects were evaluated by a professional jury consisting of construction practitioners and competition partners.

“It is encouraging and inspiring that young people in Slovakia are able to think in broader contexts and aim to present not only well-known Slovak natural and cultural heritage in their projects, but also look towards the future, explore new and less familiar stories and perspectives, work with innovative technologies, and focus on sustainability and the environment,” said Peter Guoth, Business Director of HSF System SK.

The winning team from SOŠ Námestovo II (Eva Kocúrová, Andrej Kurtulík, Nina Nováková, Svetlana Staníková) received a cash prize of €600. The HSF System SK Employees’ Award, with a prize of €300, was awarded to SPŠS Nitra I (Jakub Ďuriš, Boris Benc, Jakub Hudec, Maximo Jose Noya, Filip Sýkora). The teams advancing to the superfinal are SOŠ Námestovo I, SOŠ Námestovo II, SPŠS Nitra I, and SPŠS Nitra II.

Together they will form the Slovak part of the eight-team starting field, which will be completed by the four winning teams from the Czech national round. A novelty of this year’s superfinal will be the participation of international experts – Japanese architect Yasumasa Hayashi from the ArchTank studio, and Stefan Jansch from the Austrian company HSF System AT, part of the international HSF System construction group.

The competition is organised and primarily sponsored by the construction group HSF System. The main partner of the competition is the development group ANTRACIT. Both are part of the investment group PURPOSIA Group, which also oversees the official Czech participation at EXPO 2025 in Osaka. The product partner is the Czech Association of Corrugated Cardboard Manufacturers.