Architecture competition for the University of Oulu's new campus attracts over 100 entries

The University of Oulu campus competition is part of the 150th anniversary year of architectural competitions in Finland and is being conducted in accordance with the competition rules of the Finnish Association of Architects (SAFA).

"The competition clearly attracted more interest than usual, despite the challenging nature of the task. I believe competitors are drawn by the project's exceptional scale and the fact that architecture competitions for university campuses have been relatively rare in recent years," says SAFA’s Competition Expert Kirsti Rantanen.

The objective of the first stage is to produce a comprehensive urban and architectural solution for the new university campus.

"We are delighted that the University of Oulu campus project has generated such strong interest. It is exciting to begin reviewing the entries with the jury and to see the kinds of solutions competitors have envisioned. The anonymity of the competition adds a unique dimension to the evaluation process, as the competitors remain unknown even to the jury until the winner is announced," says Janne Pihlajaniemi, Professor of Architecture at the University of Oulu and a member of the competition jury.

Next, the jury will select the three to five most promising proposals for the second stage of the competition, which will begin in January 2027. During the second stage, competitors will develop and further refine the plans based on the feedback and design instructions provided by the jury. The winner will be announced in June 2027.

Competition seeks a vision for the overall campus concept

For the first time in its history, the University of Oulu's new campus will bring together all eight faculties in a single location at Kontinkangas, where the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine are already based. The competition aims to create a long-term vision for the area's architecture and urban development.

"This marks an important milestone in the planning of our new Kontinkangas campus. We expect the competition entries to provide a wide range of ideas for the overall concept and a strong foundation for the more detailed planning that will follow. In addition to high-quality architecture, we are looking for visions of how the campus development can be integrated smoothly into the hospital area and become a natural part of Oulu's urban structure," says Vesa-Heikki Kemppainen, property manager at the University of Oulu.

The competition will include the design of approximately 80,000 square metres of floor area for university use and around 30,000 square metres of floor area for student housing, corresponding to approximately 600–1,000 student housing units. In addition, the plans include a campus hotel with approximately 15,000 square metres of floor area, a service centre with approximately 20,000 square metres of floor area to support campus and hospital-related services, and approximately 35,000 square metres of floor area reserved for other functions.

The competition is organised by the University of Oulu and the Northern Finland Student Housing Foundation (PSOAS) in cooperation with the City of Oulu, the Wellbeing Services County of North Ostrobothnia (Pohde) and SAFA. The jury includes representatives from the University of Oulu, the Student Union of the University of Oulu, PSOAS, the City of Oulu, Pohde and SAFA. Each participating organisation is represented on the competition jury.