After its successful launch last year, the CheckINN Revitalisator idea competition has recently taken place again. Though the participating student teams came from different programmes, they all shared a focus on design, architecture, and tourism. This year, nearly 30 teams from 11 universities competed for the HUF 3 million first prize and professional mentoring. Most contenders came from Széchenyi István University, MOME, and Eszterházy Károly Catholic University. This year’s teams were supported by architects Sándor Guba and Dániel Eke, as well as tourism expert Péter Palicz and presentation trainer Kata Szvetnyik as mentors.

The completed entries were presented live at the last stage of the multi-round competition to a  professional jury and the general public at a special event on 8 September on the MOME Campus. The points awarded by the jury based on the pitches of the 10 finalist teams were added to the points previously earned during the competition for the final scores and ranking.

At the awards ceremony, the nine teams with the highest score held presentations in front of the professional jury, and the two teams with the highest final total score received a cash prize of HUF 3 million each from CheckINN.

The first prize went to MOME team INDOOHÁZ (Bercel Dózsa, Bendegúz Molnár and Tilla Pálinkás-Szűcs) for the reuse of railway water reservoir buildings for bivouacs for backpackers. Their idea involved converting the abandoned water reservoirs of former steam locomotives located along the train tracks into accommodation for backpackers that is gaining popularity also in Hungary.  

“We enjoy exploring the countryside, but are often unable to find accommodation suited to our needs. When contemplating brownfield sites, the railway immediately jumped to mind. Through long-time observation of the buildings along the tracks, we came to realise that they were simply made for being used as bivouacs for backpackers”, said the members of team INDOOHÁZ.  

The second place was secured by team A QUARium (Árpád Mátyás Balogh, Kálmán Fábián and Blanka Kárász) for a concept converting the Népsziget Shipyard into an ecotourism centre complete with a botanical garden, aquarium, restaurant, and event venues.

“It is my firm belief that the up-and-coming generation will be able to address the major challenges of the 21st century, and shape the world we will live in. One measure of success for idea competitions is the boldness of the concepts. It was refreshing to see all the unique and innovative thoughts and visions conceived by the CheckINN Revitalisator contenders. Another achievement of the competition is that it demonstrated how collaboration between institutions and fields, teamwork, mentoring support, and collective thinking can bring about exciting projects”, said CEO of MOME and a member of the professional jury Réka Matheidesz.

The winners and the rest of the finalist teams will receive further opportunities and mentoring at CheckINN’s alumni events and forums for discussing their ideas and the next steps for implementation with various tourism and architecture experts.

For more details and the outcomes of the competition visit CheckINN’s website.