Italy is the third largest market in Europe with a population of almost 58 million. The country is the tenth most important market for Swedish sales. Italy has a fairly good economy at the moment and the forecast tells of an increasing strength during coming years. Despite all of this, Sweden is exporting a fairly small amount of wood to Italy. Only around 2,3 % of all Sweden?s wood export goes to Italy.

Konkurrensen i klädbranschen växer och blir allt intensivare. Det krävs idag mer från ett företag för att kunna skilja sig från mängden. En rad olika faktorer påverkar en konsuments beteende och attityd gentemot ett företag och en butiks val av varumärken och sortimentsutbud spelar en betydande roll för att kunna kommunicera ut ett budskap som lockar den tänkta målgruppen. Det blir allt vanligare att detaljistföretag som erbjuder etablerade varumärken integrerar bakåt och producerar egna märkesvaror. Lager 157 är ett företag som på senare tid har följt denna trend.

Competing is a well established work model among Swedisharchitects as well as in the international architect work force.Through this study we set out to get better acquainted with thiswork model in theory and in practice, and to hopefully gainknowledge that will be of use to us and to others working in thefield of architecture.Techniques, materials as well as the artistic expression ofcontemporary architecture is international and today?s architectsoperate on a global labour market. Architects often commit to workon assignments far away from where they are based. Therefore,to physically visit the site of interest may be time consuming,expensive as well as harmful to the environment. Is it possible fora designer to accomplish relevant proposals on how to develop andimprove a place that he or she has never visited? May there evenbe situations in which the outsiders point of view is preferable?These are questions that we aim to investigate, and we do sothrough participation in an international design competition.