On days 24-27 April 2024, the Brno Exhibition Center hosted the Construction Fair and Architecture Festival, which included an extremely interesting competition – the Construction Hackathon – organized by the National Center for Construction 4.0 (NCS 4.0). This event focused on innovation and technological development in the field of affordable housing.
The pilot year of this hackathon offered six teams composed of university students from leading Czech technical universities (ČVUT in Prague, CZU in Prague, ZČU in Pilsen, VŠB-TU Ostrava, BUT in Brno and Mendel University in Brno). In the first two days of the festival, students tackled challenging tasks focused on the material, construction and price aspects of affordable housing. They presented their proposals to an expert jury, which appreciated not only their innovative approach, but also their practical applicability in the real construction industry.
A winning team and its innovative approach
The winner was a team composed of students from the Faculty of Civil Engineering at CTU – David Vrbicky, Vojtěch Hart, Natália Novotná, Yakub Ahmed and Rebeka Uhlárová and a student from the Faculty of Architecture at CTU – Tereza Táborská. This team won the „Affordable Housing Concept“ category at the Construction Hackathon. Their proposal was declared the most complex, including not only technical solutions, but also economic aspects of implementation. This team was able to make a significant contribution to the discussion on how modern construction technologies and materials can be used to improve housing affordability.
The role of the National Center for Construction 4.0
NC Construction 4.0 aims to support the courage of the Czech construction industry to innovate and bring new technologies and approaches into practice. Events like this hackathon are key to the social and economic aspects of sustainable development. In addition, the space of the university town at the fair allowed technical universities to present a wide range of their current projects and research, which enriched the whole event with another dimension of education and information exchange.
Thanks to partners and support from the state administration
The event was held under the auspices of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic and the Ministry of Regional Development of the Czech Republic, with the support of important companies such as Autodesk, STRABAG, KOMA Modular, Asio, Progress Group, Vesper Homes, RD Rýmařov, HELUZ and ADMD which contributed their experience and mentors to the success of the entire event.
This hackathon is just the beginning of the National Center for Construction 4.0’s long-term efforts to support housing innovation. Its results serve as inspiration for cities, municipalities and the construction industry in general, highlighting the importance of innovation and adaptability in a rapidly changing world.
