Prize Archives

This week Riken Yamamoto won the Pritzker Architecture Prize

This week on Dezeen, Japanese architect Riken Yamamoto was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize for his buildings that aim to foster community.

Yamamoto, who became the 53rd architect to be awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, was recognised for his work created over a five-decade career.

Riken Yamamoto key projects — We rounded up Riken Yamamoto’s key projects

To celebrate Yamamoto’s win, we looked back at 15 of his most interesting projects that often use glass, terraces and balconies to encourage transparency and foster community.

Also in response to this year’s winner, Dezeen editor Tom Ravenscroft wrote an opinion piece drawing attention to the fact that Japanese men have won the prize more times than women.

Social Housing Revival artwork by Jack Bedford — This week we launched Social Housing Revival

This week, we also kicked off our latest series – the Social Housing Revival, which will explore the current discussions on social housing and celebrate the best contemporary examples.

To kick off the series, Peter Apps called for a return to mass public house-building. “We need a major shift in the way we look at public housing”, he wrote in an opinion piece.

Dezeen's International Women's Day power list 2024 — Dezeen compiled a list of the 50 most influential women in architecture and design

To celebrate International Women’s Day we compiled a list of the 50 most influential women in architecture and design.

In a follow-up to an article written seven years ago, where she declared “I am not a female architect. I am an architect”, Dorte Mandrup wrote an opinion piece discussing the need for gender-based lists.

“The persistent need for distinction is a symptom of inequality and prejudice,” she wrote. “It should be common practice to include women in the general architectural discourse.”

Notre-Dame's spire was revealed — Notre-Dame’s spire was revealed

In Paris, the reconstructed spire at Notre-Dame cathedral was revealed as scaffolding was removed from the building.

The 96-metre-high spire was designed to be identical to the 1859 version designed by architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc.

Riyadh skyline — Foster + Partners is reportedly designing a two-kilometre-high skyscraper

In other architecture news, it was reported that Foster + Partners is designing a skyscraper in Saudi Arabia that, if built, would be the tallest in the world.

According to a report in UK architecture magazine Architects’ Journal, the skyscraper planned for a site north of Riyadh will be two kilometres tall.

Pinwheel shelter in the Italian Alps by EX — A tent-like refuge was one of this week’s most popular stories

Popular projects this week included a tent-like refuge with panoramic views of the Italian Alps, a rural retreat built in a concrete pig shed and Gensler’s own office in LA.

Our latest lookbooks featured inviting breakfast nooks for easy-going mornings and homes kept cool and bright by central courtyards.

This week on Dezeen

This week on Dezeen is our regular roundup of the week’s top news stories. Subscribe to our newsletters to be sure you don’t miss anything.

Reference

Architecture

Serenity Framed: Waetcher Architecture’s Society Hotel Awarded Top Prize in 6th Best of LaCantina Competition

By Zarkon Group,28/01/2024

A classic paradox in architecture is that, quite often, the buildings that get people talking most are those that are gloriously defined by silence.

The stunningly serene spa at the heart of the Society Hotel in Bingen, Washington, is a perfect example of this phenomena, and its elemental beauty has now been recognized with the prestigious “Best in Show” award as part of LaCantina Doors‘ much loved annual design contest, the 6th Annual Best of LaCantina Competition.

Designed by Oregon-based firm Waechter Architecture, this carefully crafted project involved the adaptive reuse of a historic school building into a boutique hotel, with the addition a ring of minimalist cedar cabins and a unique, polygonal bath house containing a series of relaxing pools, changing rooms, a sauna, a kitchen and two massage rooms.

At the heart of the project, the community spa building serves as a feature gathering space with shared amenities for hotel visitors and guests. The spa employs a similar material palette of striated cedar as the surrounding cabins, yet has a distinctly volumetric form. Avoiding a singular front entrance, the building opens onto each side of the ring with dynamic apertures and floor-to-ceiling folding doors.

Within, the structure expands upward to a large skylight, which washes natural light over a series of pools below.

One of the most critical considerations for the spa’s design was how the interior and the exterior spaces could be seamlessly connected, providing shelter for visitors while also maintaining both a visual and a visceral connection with the hotel’s stunning natural surroundings.

In order to strike this balance, Waechter Architecture turned to LaCantina Doors. “We used a series of three custom-sized, six-panel Aluminum TC (Thermally Controlled) folding doors with a dark bronze anodized finish, all roughly 10′ high and 18′ in width,” explained the architects. “Two of the door systems were symmetrical 3L/3R configurations, and the last (in the highest-traffic area) was arranged as a 5L/1R configuration outfitted with panic hardware.”

The use of LaCantina doors were key to the success of the project, as Waechter explained: “In many ways, these doors were the most important single component of the entire project. After seeing the system and learning about other successful installations in this dynamic context and climate, they seemed to be an ideal choice.”

The architects continued: “We wanted the architecture of the spa to feel effortless and elemental, with as few materials and components as possible. The three openings between the cedar-clad ‘piers’ all wanted to open fully to the elements in good weather, and we also needed to protect against the snow and winds the Gorge is famous for at other times of the year.

“The La Cantina folding door system gave us the simplicity and solid construction we were seeking while providing an almost seamless connection to the landscape. It was the perfect fit for this challenging condition.”

The finished project is an exemplar in adaptive reuse architecture and spa design, creating a perfect destination for those looking for a scenic getaway in the Pacific Northwest. As the architects concluded: “Through its composition and pairing of historic and new architecture, the Society serves as a model for how buildings can reconcile the needs of a sensitive site, visitors, and the local community, and maximize connection to the surrounding landscape.”

To see every winner of the 6th Annual Best of LaCantina competition, click here, and learn more about LaCantina Doors here.

Project photography by Lara Swimmer

Reference

Sustainable News

Dissolvable binder for EV batteries wins 2023 Earthshot Prize

By Zarkon Group,08/11/2023

Prince William has announced the five projects that are taking home this year’s Earthshot Prize, including an AI-powered soil carbon marketplace and a more circular manufacturing process for lithium-ion batteries.

Founded by the British royal in 2021, the annual Earthshot Prize rewards innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental challenges – air and water pollution, environmental degradation, waste and climate change.

From more than 1,100 entries, a winner was chosen for each of these five categories and awarded a £1 million cash prize to help scale up the project and increase its positive impact.

Women farmers using solar-powered conduction dryers by S4S Technologies — GRST (top image) S4S Technologies (above) are among the winning projects of 2023 the Earthshot Prize

Indian company S4S Technologies was crowned the winner of the waste category for its efforts to provide female small-hold farmers in rural India with solar-powered conduction dryers.

Without the need for energy or expensive cold storage, these can help farmers preserve crops that would otherwise have gone to waste and turn them into sellable products, with the aim of saving 1.2 million tonnes of food waste by 2026.

To date, the company has helped more than 300,000 farmers, who have reportedly seen their profits increase by around 10 to 15 per cent.

“S4S, along with women farmers, are creating a new food ecosystem that reduces wastage and mitigates the increase in GHG emissions while meeting the world’s food needs,” said S4S Technologies co-founder Nidhi Pant.

Lithium-ion battery by GRST, winner of 2023 Earthshot Prize — GRST has created a water-soluble binder for EV batteries

Also among the other winners is Hong Kong company GRST, which is making electric vehicle (EV) batteries more circular by manufacturing them using a water-soluble binder.

This allows its valuable lithium, cobalt and nickel components to be recovered and reused more easily, preventing waste and reducing the need for more mining.

The resulting battery lasts up to 10 per cent longer, the company claims, while emitting 40 per cent less greenhouse gases in its production.

“The world needs a massive amount of batteries to achieve net zero by 2050, but a revolution is needed to make these batteries cleaner and more recyclable,” said GRST’s chief strategy officer Frank Harley. “Today, our water-based technology is driving this transformation.”

In the climate change category, the top prize went to Boomitra – a carbon marketplace that incentivises farmers to use regenerative agricultural practices to store excess atmospheric carbon in their soil.

This carbon storage is tracked via satellites and artificial intelligence, and ultimately sold to companies and governments in the form of carbon credits, which the company says are independently verified.

Boomitra is already working with 150,000 farmers across Africa, South America and Asia, and believes that it could store one gigaton of CO2 in soil by the end of the decade.

“We cannot restore the earth without the support of farmers, who produce the food we eat and rely on the land for their income,” said founder Aadith Moorthy.

“Our technological solution empowers farmers with the data they need to improve soil and maximise their crop yields while creating a valuable store for carbon.”

Person holding soil in hand — Boomitra is an AI-powered marketplace for soil carbon storage

Also among 2023’s winning projects is Acción Andina, an initiative that supports indigenous communities with ecosystem restoration in the Andes Mountains, and the WildAid Marine Program, which gives countries the tools and technology to police illegal fishing in protected marine areas.

On top of their prize money, all of the winners winners will receive a year’s worth of mentoring and support as part of The Earthshot Prize Fellowship Programme, together with the other 10 finalists.

WildAid Marine Program teaching initiative, winner of 2023 Earthshot Prize — WildAid Marine Program is providing countries with the tools to police illegal fishing

“Our winners and all our finalists remind us that, no matter where you are on our planet, the spirit of ingenuity and the ability to inspire change surrounds us all,” Prince William said in a speech at the awards ceremony in Singapore.

“The last year has been one of great change and even greater challenge. A year in which the effects of the climate crisis have become too visible to be ignored. And a year that has left so many feeling defeated, their hope, dwindling. However, as we have seen tonight, hope does remain.”

The Earthshot Prize is now in its third year, with previous winners including a greenhouse-in-a-box and a tool that creates fuel from agricultural waste.

Reference

Architecture

This week the 2023 Stirling Prize winner was announced

By Zarkon Group,21/10/2023

This week on Dezeen, the John Morden Centre in London by UK studio Mae Architects was revealed as the winner of the 2023 Stirling Prize.

The building is a daycare centre for a retirement community with a cross-laminated timber structure and red brick facade, which the Stirling Prize jury described as “a place of joy and inspiration”.

However, not overly enthused by the six shortlisted Stirling projects, architecture critic Catherine Slessor wrote an opinion piece on what the “dutifully dull” selection says about the architecture prize.

Adventure hotel in Leyja — A trio of boutique hotels was revealed for Neom’s Leyja region

Also in architecture news, the Saudi development of Neom unveiled its latest region that consists of a trio of “luxury high-end boutique hotels”.

Designed by three different architects, the hotel trio includes a stepped hotel climbing up the cliffside, a mirror-clad hotel, and a geometric hotel designed to appear like formations rising from the rocky landscape.

Zaha Hadid Architect's King Abdullah Financial District Metro Station neared completion in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — Zaha Hadid Architects’s metro station in Riyadh nears completion

In other architecture news, we reported that Zaha Hadid Architect’s King Abdullah Financial District Metro Station neared completion in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The station forms part of the King Abdullah Financial District, which along with Neom, are two of the 14 giga projects currently being developed in the country.

15-minute city — We created an explainer to 15 minute cities

This week we also created a simply guide to 15 minute cities – an urbanism theory that has gained wide attention this year.

We explained what they are, who invented the concept and why they have become so controversial.

This week was also 100th anniversary of Disney. To mark the occasion we rounded up 12 of the most interesting buildings – from fairytale castles to postmodern hotels – created by the corporation.

We also looked at the giant novelty structures at Disney’s Pop Century Resort hotel, which was photographed by Arnau Rovira Vidal.

Timothy Fodbold house — A home in the Hamptons was one of the most popular projects this week

Popular projects this week included a home in the Hamptons turned into a “villain’s hideout”, a “dreamy” treetop resort in Bali and a one-legged “treehouse” in Estonian pine forest.

This week’s lookbooks highlighted bold showers that add a pop of colour to the bathroom and interiors where chequerboard flooring adds a sense of nostalgia.

This week on Dezeen

This week on Dezeen is our regular roundup of the week’s top news stories. Subscribe to our newsletters to be sure you don’t miss anything.

Dezeen editor Tom Ravenscroft created a simple guide explaining the 15-minute city concept

Reference

Architecture

RIBA unveils 2023 Stirling Prize shortlist

By Zarkon Group,06/09/2023

The Royal Institute of British Architects has revealed the six-strong shortlist for the 2023 Stirling Prize, which is dominated by projects in London.

Three of the buildings vying for the coveted award, which is given annually to the UK’s best new building, are housing projects in London by studios Apparata, Sergison Bates and Adam Khan Architects.

This is a reflection of what the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) president Muyiwa Oki said is a shortlist of community-focused and “purposeful architecture”.

Stirling Prize-shortlisted A House for Artists in London — A House for Artists is one of three residential projects on the shortlist

“The 2023 Stirling Prize shortlist illustrates why architecture matters to all of us,” said Oki.

“These six remarkable buildings offer thoughtful, creative responses to the really complex challenges we’re facing today. Whether it’s tackling loneliness, building communities, or preserving our heritage, these projects lay out bold blueprints for purposeful architecture.”

The residential projects on the list include A House for Artists, an affordable housing scheme by Apparata that was aimed specifically at creatives, and Lavender Hill Courtyard Housing, an infill project by Sergison Bates at a former sheet-metal workshop in Clapham.

A social housing block designed by Adam Khan Architects as part of the Central Somers Town masterplan in Camden is the third.

This project was animated by matching arch motifs, matching an adjoining children’s community centre that also forms a part of the project.

Interior of the Stirling Prize-shortlisted Faculty of Arts at the University of Warwick — The University of Warwick Faculty of Arts is the only building on the list outside of London

Two other buildings on the list that are also in London are Courtauld Connects by Witherford Watson Mann Architects and the John Morden Centre by Mae.

Courtauld Connects is a renovated gallery at Somerset House, while the John Morden Centre is a daycare centre for a retirement community in Blackheath.

The only building on the shortlist that is not in London is the Faculty of Arts for Warwick University designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios for a site in Coventry.

This university building brings together its arts departments under one roof and is formed of interconnected pavilions that draw on the surrounding nature.

Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Witherford Watson Mann Architects are the only studios on the list to have previously won the Stirling Prize, though Mae also made the shortlist in 2022.

Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios won in 2008 for the Accordia housing in Cambridge, which it created alongside Alison Brooks Architects and Maccreanor Lavington, while Witherford Watson Mann Architects was named winner in 2013 for Astley Castle in Warwickshire.

Last year’s recipient of the award, which is the most significant in UK architecture, was a brick and timber library that Niall McLaughlin Architects created for the University of Cambridge.

The winner of the 2023 RIBA Stirling Prize will be revealed on 19 October at a ceremony in Manchester. It will be selected by a jury headed up by OMA partner Ellen van Loon.

Read on for edited comments from the 2023 Stirling Prize jury:

A House for Artists, Barking, by Apparata

“A House for Artists provides an ambitious model for affordable and sustainable housing.

“Following a six-year effort by arts organisation Create London to provide affordable accommodation for creative people, the result is a flexible live-work space for 12 artists arranged across five floors.

“In exchange for reduced rent, they deliver free creative programmes for the neighbourhood through a street-facing glass-walled community hall and outdoor exhibition space on the ground floor.

“This is a thoughtful and assured piece of architecture that has been delivered with rigour and precision.”

Find out more about A House for Artists ›

Courtauld Connects, Westminster, by Witherford Watson Mann Architects

“The transformation of the Courtauld Gallery in its home at Somerset House, London is the first part of a multi-phase project that aims to open up the institution both physically and culturally.

“The three main moves that transform the gallery are the insertion of a lift, the reworking of the entrance sequence, including a beautiful new stair down to the basement visitor facilities, and relevelling and opening up the vaults below the entrance to provide a flowing, level space.

“Overall, the jury thought that this was an extremely well-judged project, which lets the spirit of the historic building lead the visitor experience, but with some 21st-century creativity to solve some of its inherent complexities.”

Brick facade of John Morden Centre by Mae Architects — Photo by Jim Stephenson

John Morden Centre, Blackheath, by Mae

“Founded in 1695, Morden College is a charity dedicated to providing older people in need with a home for life, including the provision of residential and nursing care. Residents live on the Grade I-listed college site in Blackheath, which is attributed to English architect Sir Christopher Wren.

“The John Morden Centre is a daycare centre housing social and medical facilities for all residents. The brief was to bring functions from across the college, including a medical centre, cafe, lounges and administrative offices, into a single building.

“The project provides a delightful set of meandering spaces, which expertly combines recreational and more tricky medical facilities without feeling institutional.

“Such stimulating spaces are vital to conquer loneliness and isolation. It is beautifully yet robustly detailed and should be a joy to use for years to come.”

Find out more about John Morden Centre ›

Photo of Lavender Hill Courtyard Housing that is 2023 Stirling Prize-shortlisted — Photo by Johan Dehlin

Lavender Hill Courtyard Housing, Clapham, by Sergison Bates

“Tucked away down a timber-lined passageway, barely visible at the end of a Clapham mews, Lavender Hill Courtyard sees the redevelopment of a former sheet-metal workshop into nine apartments of various sizes, arranged around a courtyard space and a timber-decked terrace on the first floor.

“The judges were impressed by the project’s success at inserting a dense development into a very constrained site. The unassuming entrance to the site opens up into the welcoming courtyard that is accessible to all units and creates a sheltered communal space and sense of privacy amongst the busy surroundings.”

Find out more about Lavender Hill Courtyard Housing ›

University of Warwick Faculty of Arts, Coventry, by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios

“The impressive new Faculty of Arts building for the University of Warwick brings together the departments and schools of the faculty under a single roof for the first time.

“The building itself is shaped by the surrounding trees that define the parkland character of the site. This is achieved through four pavilion buildings connected by a lightweight atrium and sculptural timber larch stair.

“The combination of the client’s ambitions to create a new model of working for the faculty, and the architect’s creativity in articulating this ambition through a holistic design approach, has resulted in a building that is both inviting and flexible, enabling collaboration, creativity, and innovation.”

Central Somers Town in Camden by Adam Khan Architects — Photo by Lewis Khan

Central Somers Town Community Facilities and Housing, Camden, by Adam Khan Architects

“Central Somers Town Community Facilities and Housing are part of a larger masterplan commissioned by the London Borough of Camden for an extensive area within the very deprived Central London neighbourhood of Somers Town, adjacent to St Pancras station.

“Adam Khan Architects was assigned Plot no.10 and asked to design and supervise the construction of a flexible community children’s facility as well as that of several housing units for social rent.

“The jury commended the Central Somers Town Community Facilities and Housing as a key community asset which is a marked improvement on the previous facility on the site.”

Find out more about Central Somers Town Community Facilities and Housing ›

Reference

Sustainable News

Prosthetic leg for Ukrainian amputees among Ro Plastic Prize winners

By Zarkon Group,27/04/2023

Design gallerist and curator Rossana Orlandi has announced the winners of this year’s Ro Plastic Prize for sustainable material use during a ceremony at Milan design week.

The Ro Plastic Prize is awarded yearly to projects that feature material recycling, reuse or upcycling, with this year’s winning projects including a bacteria-growing menstrual cup and a 3D-printed prosthetic leg.

Italian company Isinnova won in the Emerging High Technology category with its design for an artificial leg, which was designed to be produced quickly and at a low cost in emergency situations such as wars and earthquakes.

Photo of Isinnova's Letizia recycled plastic prosthetic leg from 2023 Ro Plastic Prize — A bacteria-growing menstrual cup (top) and a 3D-printed prosthetic leg (above) are among the winners of the 2023 Ro Plastic Prize

This is crucial because, without the rapid provision of a prosthesis, a patient’s chances of being able to walk again are decreased due to factors such as muscle atrophy, according to Isinnova CEO Cristian Fracassi.

Made largely from recycled plastic that is 3D-printed to customised designs, the prosthetic was developed in response to the war in Ukraine and is being made on a not-for-profit basis.

There were two winners in the Art and Collectible Design category: designer Geo Minelli with the Kernel tables and architecture studio External Reference with its Pure Plants collection, both from Italy.

Photo of a round black table with a gnarled central base and a smooth top with concentric circles of yellow and green in the centre — THE Kernel table was one of two winners in the Art and Collectible Design category

Minelli’s Kernel tables are made by recycling end-of-life wind turbines made from glass fibre-reinforced plastic into a new circular material called Glebanite.

The tables, which have a smooth top and a gnarled trunk-like base, are the result of two years worth of experimentation with the material’s textures, colours and fabrication techniques.

External Reference’s Pure Plants are artificial plants that are 3D-printed from a corn-based bioplastic called Pure.Tech and available in 17 different “species”, each with an intricate geometry based on phyllotactic leaf patterns.

Photo of an arrangement of sculptural green objects in different shapes with complex geometries resembling plants from 2023 Ro Plastic Prize — Another Art and Collectible Design winner was Pure Plants

There were also two winners in the Inspiring Learning Projects category.

Czech designer Adriana Kováčová was recognised for her recycled plastic Totemo toy, which evolves from a mobile hanger to a construction set, and Italian design studio Cantieri Creativi was awarded for its Artisans Of Now workshop series, held in locations around Italy and focused on reconnecting people with nature and craft.

Photo of a toy city built from a multi-coloured kids' construction set — Adriana Kováčová’s Totemo won in the Inspiring Learning Projects category

Among the runners-up and special mentions in the competition was Italian designer Lucrezia Alessandroni, whose Soothing Cup is a speculative project comprising a menstrual cup and incubator that would enable users to grow vaginal bacteria extracted from their own body with the goal of reducing period pain.

A seaweed-based hydrogel turns the silicone cup into a bio-membrane that can collect vaginal lactobacillus bacteria, which is then cultivated in an incubator in the time between periods.

Photo of a minimal dark green plastic chair with a flatpacked package in the background from 2023 Ro Plastic Prize — The OTO chair by Alessandro Stabile and Martinelli is made of recycled ocean plastic

According to Alessandroni, studies have shown that this bacteria can reduce period pain and cut down on the number of painkillers those affected have to take each month.

Another special mention in the Emerging High Technology category went to Italian designers Alessandro Stabile and Martinelli for the OTO chair, which is made from recycled ocean plastic in a single, reduced-size mould and shipped flat-packed direct to consumers.

In the Art and Collectible design category, special mentions included UK design studio Novavita’s recycled plastic tiles, which have a mottled patterning that is meant to recall natural stone and marble.

And Spanish duo Eneris Collective made third place in the Inspiring Learning Projects category with its playful design for the Nontalo children’s stool, made from waste olive pits.

Ro Plastic Prize 2023 exhibition at Milan design week — The shortlisted projects were exhibited as part of Milan design week

Shortlisted projects for the Ro Plastic Prize were on display as part of an exhibition at Milan design week. And winners were announced on 20 April after judging by a 17-member jury that included Triennale Milano president Stefano Boeri, architect and designer Giulio Cappellini, Parley for the Oceans founder Cyrill Gutsch and Dezeen co-CEO Benedict Hobson.

The prize is an initiative by Orlandi and her daughter Nicoletta Orlandi Brugnoni, who wanted to raise awareness around the importance of plastic recycling and reuse.

Since the first Ro Plastic Prize in 2019, the criteria of the competition has expanded to include other plastic alternatives, with competition categories varying every year.

The Ro Plastic Prize exhibition was on show as part of Milan design week, which took place from 18 to 23 April. See our Milan design week 2023 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks that took place throughout the week.

Reference

Architecture

10 Architects Who Can – and Should – Win the Pritzker Prize

By Zarkon Group,21/03/2023

Judging for the 11th A+Awards is now underway! While awaiting the Winners, prepare for the upcoming Architizer Vision Awards, honoring the best architectural photography, film, visualizations, drawings, models and the talented creators behind them. Learn more and register >

The 2023 Pritzker Prize has been announced and the winner’s reveal was met with mixed reactions. While some lauded the timeless elegance and simplicity of Chipperfield’s designs, others questioned why the institution would choose to elevate the “safe choice” and what values that conveys. For those in the latter camp, who met the announcement with a sigh, part of the constructive commentary was brainstorming architects who they’d like to see win.

While the Pritzker’s culture of naming a single figure rather than the teams of professionals who work to produce contemporary architecture remains questionable (the rules explicitly state that the prize must go to “a living architect or architects, but not to an architectural firm”), there are arguments for celebrating industry visionaries whose creative leadership guide the profession. Indeed, the prize is meant to “encourage and stimulate not only a greater public awareness of buildings but also inspire greater creativity within the architectural profession.” That said, the definition of architecture does not simply encompass buildings (scroll to see some landscape architects who have certainly “produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.”).

Architizer’s A+Awards program was founded with the precise aim of countering the culture of starchitecture, which erases the very foundation of architectural practice: collaboration. However, we also believe in thought leaders, and the following selections exemplify the spirit of what we celebrate: architecture that builds a better future.

Marina Tabassum

Left: Marina Tabassum Kaethe17, Marina-tabassum-pimo-2023 (cropped), CC BY-SA 4.0; Right: Bait Ur Rouf Mosque অজ্ঞাত, বায়তুর রউফ মসজিদ, CC BY-SA 4.0

Climate, materials, site, culture, and local history are hallmarks of Marina Tabassum’s output. Her Dhaka-based studio was founded in 2005, and the Bangladeshi architect’s most famous work, the Bait Ur Rouf Mosque epitomizes the approach that she takes across her diverse oeuvre. There, a symphony of light sings in a rhythm of unexpected beams and bursts against the exposed terracotta walls. It’s pure poetry. But then, there are her more practical designs like Khudi Bari, a modular mobile housing unit that is light weight and easy to assemble and specifically designed for climate victims in her native Bangladesh. Hers is an architecture rooted in the past and built for the future. We need celebrate this type of innovative and humanitarian approach to design over and above the monumental and symbolic.

Tatiana Bilbao

We live in a time of crises. While the term “Housing Crisis” is used universally, the plagues most countries in distinct and different iterations. Mexico City-based architect Tatiana Bilbao has a long history of engaging with this crisis as it manifests in her hometown. Since having worked as an adviser for the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing in Mexico City for two years early in her career, Bilbao has acted as a leader of architectural discussions and research into affordable housing — and not the anonymous cookie-cutter type that might come to mind. Beyond affordability, her designs consider how to build sustainable communities that are rooted in their locale. Tell me this doesn’t “demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision, and commitment,” that the Pritzker awards.

Kongjian Yu

While architectural enthusiasts outside of China may be less familiar with landscape architect Kongjian Yu, it’s time they started reading up. The founder of Turenscape has been on the forefront of adapting cities for a changing climate, and a longtime advocate of reversing assumptions about urban and regional development planning. Having coined the term “Sponge City,” his body of work is driven by an ecological approach to recovering the natural landscape of cities, and working with water rather than against it. While these projects may be rooted in ecology, the designer’s touch for adding a flare of tasteful manmade drama in a natural environment underlines the root belief of his studio; indeed, it is embedded in its name. The “Tu” refers to dirt, earth and land. Meanwhile, “Ren” denotes people, man and human beings. Together, “Turen” means earth man. This is the type of thinking all builders today must take.

Jeanne Gang

The world’s tallest woman-designed building, St. Regis Chicago, was constructed by Jeanne Gang and her studio. When it was completed in 2020, the tower that it overtook gain its title was none other the Aqua Tower, which was designed by the same architect. This simple fact speaks volumes about Jeanne Gang’s ambition, which is paired with seemingly limitless creative energy. Her contribution to 21st century skyscraper is undeniable, so it is fitting that she is based in Chicago, where the typology was first invented. Studio Gang’s portfolio is not limited to highrises, however, (although her team has masterminded plenty more innovative towers). For example, their latest adaptive reuse project makes a hopeful statement about the future while their addition to the American Museom of Natural History is an signifiant contribution to museum typology.

MVRDV (Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, and Nathalie de Vries)

Market Hall by MVRDV, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Since it was founded in 1993, this Rotterdam-based studio have been challenging public perceptions about what architecture can be and how it can evolve our definition of what a city is. Mixing typologies, upending formal expectations and urban relationships, and pushing the envelop of construction possibility, MVRDV does work that is anything but safe. Each project in their porfolio is delightfully unique, also challenging the traditional notion of an architect or firm developing an identifiable style. Instead, their projects are deeply rooted in an analysis of how buildings can activate (or re-activate) the urban fabric and the public, resulting in architecture that is place-specific, even if not rooted in tradition (subverting a common preconceived notion about contextual design). They also model how urban density does not need to come at the cost of traditional community bonds.

James Corner

As a path breaking landscape architect who has already been the first of his ilk to receive a handful of awards traditionally reserved for building designers, James Corner is well positioned to be the first landscape designer to win a Pritzker. His New York-based firm, which takes his name, crafts urban environments that are more than just green spaces; in addition to ecological benefits, his designs are undergirded by a deep concern with the social and the economic. Cornfield was at the forefront of thinking about post-industrial landscapes, and designs such as his famous High Line (in collaboration with Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Piet Oudolf) positioned him as a leader in the field, and redefined how the broader public view landscape architects and architecture. Since then, his firm has continued to push the bounds of public and industry understanding about urban public space and ecological remediation, reimagining aging infrastructure as “places to enchant.”

Frida Escobedo

Having skyrocketed to global fame in 2018 when she was named the youngest architect ever invited to design the Serpentine Pavilion (and only the second woman to do so), it should come as no surprise that Frida Escobedo is on this list. However, this is not why she deserves to be given the Pritzker. When she was named to takeover the MET wing design from this year’s laureate, the museum director Max Hollein put it best, saying “In her practice, she wields architecture as a way to create powerful spatial and communal experiences, and she has shown dexterity and sensitivity in her elegant use of material while bringing sincere attention to today’s socioeconomic and ecological issues.” Beyond the museum addition, her portfolio ranges from hospitality and hotel restoration to interior commercial projects to residential design — all commissions that are the bread and butter of most architects, making up the fabric of the everyday, as opposed to the big-ticket cultural projects typical of starchitects.

Sir David Adjaye

For many architects and critics, the question is not whether Sir David Adjaye will win the Pritzker, it when. As the best-known Black “starchitect,” the Ghanaian-British designer’s buildings range from the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway to the A+Awards-winning Winter Park Library and Events Center in Florida. The Pritzker was founded with the aim of celebrating figures who “stimulate a greater public awareness of buildings,” and Adjaye did just that with the design of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. Yet, if Adjaye received the award it wouldn’t be for just one building. In addition to collaborating with numerous artists and the considerable output of community-oriented work in his portfolio, Adjaye’s designs are also materially distinct, representing a visionary way to think about construction.

Toshiko Mori

Left: Image via Toshiko Mori Architect Right: House in Connecticut II, New Canaan, CT Photo by Paul Warchol Photography

The Japanese-born and New York-based architect Toshiko Mori made a name for herself by her poetic takes on modern architectural style, deely rooted in research that produced material innovation and common-sense sustainability. Through her eponymous firm over the past four decades, she has constructed beloved buildings around the world and built a career as an industry leader through her dedication to pedagoy. While the Pritzker recognizes built output, and not thought leadership, from becoming the first female professor given tenure at Harvard to her investigations into sustainability in design on World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Cities to her advocacy for community engagement through Architecture For Humanity, her positive impact on the profession shouldn’t be taken lightly. These research interests are also visible in her built output, including THREAD: Artists’ Residency and Cultural Center where Mori used parametric design to expand the structural possibilities of the vernacular African home.

Mariam Kamara

Left image: Mariam Kamara, Mariam Kamara OTRS, CC BY-SA 4.0; Right image: HIKMA – A Religious and Secular Complex by atelier masōmī + Yasaman Esmaili, Dandaji, Niger Photo by James Wang

If Mariam Kamara were to win the Pritzker next year, she wouldn’t be the youngest laureate in the prize’s history (that bar was set by Ryue Nishizawa was aged 44 in 2010), although she’d be damn close. The founder and principal of atelier masōmī, in Niamey Niger and the Seattle-based collective united4design, is known for harnessing low-cost, local materials, including raw earth and recycled metal. One example of this is her Hikma en Dandaji, a building that has been lauded for its sustainability specs and that draws on local construction techniques and evolves them. Bringing three programs—a mosque, a library and a community center—under one roof, the Kamara’s design bringing “secular knowledge and faith” together “without contradiction.” Perhaps she needs time to build out her portfolio before the Pritzker comes her way, it would be thrilling to cast the spotlight on someone “designing culturally, historically and climatically relevant solutions to spatial problems inherent to the developing world.”

Reference

Sustainable News

Greenhouse-in-a-box among 2022 Earthshot Prize winners

By Zarkon Group,21/01/2023

Prince William has announced the five winning projects of this year’s Earthshot Prize, founded by the royal together with British wildlife presenter David Attenborough to find solutions to “repair our planet”.

The Earthshot Prize winners each received a £1 million grant to scale their projects, with each tackling a different topic from regenerating nature and fighting climate change to eliminating pollution – whether at sea, on land or in the air – based loosely on the United Nations’ sustainable development goals.

Notpla by Superunion — Seaweed packing Notpla is one of the winners of the 2022 Earthshot Prize

Among this year’s winning projects is Notpla – a plastic packaging alternative that is made from seaweed, making it not just biodegradable but also edible – and an affordable flat-pack greenhouse by Indian start-up Kheyti.

This so-called “greenhouse-in-a-box” can help small-scale farmers, whose harvests have been affected by climate change, to produce seven-times higher yields using 98 per cent less water, the company claims. At the same time, the modular structure is 90 per cent cheaper than a standard greenhouse, combining a simple shading cloth with a drip irrigation system and netting on all sides to ward off pests.

Greenhouse-in-a-box by Kheyti from 2022 Earthshot Prize winners — Also among the prize winners is Kheyti’s flat-pack greenhouse

Omani company 44.01 took home another of the competition’s top prizes for its development of a carbon storage system that takes excess carbon dioxide from the air and reportedly sequesters it “forever” by turning it into rocks.

This involves sourcing the atmospheric CO2 from direct air capture (DAC) companies such as Climeworks, dissolving it in water and injecting it into formations of a rock called peridotite, which is abundant in Oman.

Over the span of a year, the peridotite mineralises this carbon dioxide and turns it into solid rock in a natural process known as mineral carbonation, which normally takes thousands or even millions of years.

Talal Hasan standing in front of a rock formation — 44.01’s carbon storage system makes use of peridotite

44.01 is among a growing cohort of companies developing technologies to accelerate this process, which is being billed as a solution for carbon storage that is stable and permanent, and thus does not require long-term monitoring.

“We have found a natural process that removes carbon and we’ve accelerated it,” explained founder Talal Hasan. “We believe this process is replicable globally and can play a key role in helping our planet to heal.”

Also among this year’s Earthshot Prize-winning projects is a stove developed by a women-run company in Kenya that runs on processed biomass instead of straight charcoal.

As a result, Mukuru Clean Stoves produce 70 per cent less air pollution than the traditional charcoal cookstoves currently used by around 700 million people across Africa.

The Queensland Indigenous Women Rangers Network received this year’s final accolade for its work in protecting Australia’s Great Barrier Reef by making use of “60,000 years of Indigenous knowledge” combined with modern, digital technologies such as drones.

Woman holding Mukuru Clean Stoves — Mukuru Clean Stoves run on processed biomass

The winning projects for the Earthshot Prize, which says it was “designed to find and grow the solutions that will repair our planet” were announced during a high-profile ceremony in Boston’s MGM Music Hall. This was broadcast by the BBC and presented by the Prince and Princess of Wales alongside celebrities including singer Ellie Goulding and footballer David Beckham.

“I believe that the Earthshot solutions you have seen this evening prove we can overcome our planet’s greatest challenges,” Prince William said. “And by supporting and scaling them we can change our future.”

“Alongside tonight’s winners and finalists, and those to be discovered over the years to come, it’s my hope the Earthshot legacy will continue to grow, helping our communities and our planet to thrive.”

Rangers in Australia standing around a small fire — The Queensland Indigenous Women Rangers Network was the final winning project

The ceremony received criticism from some viewers, as celebrity presenters and performers were flown into Boston to attend the event while the awards’ actual recipients accepted their awards virtually to save travel emissions.

Similarly, Beckham was called a “hypocrite” for his involvement in the event due to his ambassadorship of the Qatar World Cup, which has recently come under fire for its “disingenuous” carbon neutrality claims as the event looks to be on track to emit more CO2 than any other sporting event in recent history.

The Earthshot Prize was awarded for the first time ever last year, with winners including a restorative ecosystem scheme in Costa Rica and a tool that creates fuel from waste. The prize is set to run annually for the next eight years, during what has been dubbed the “decisive decade” for climate change action.

Reference

Sustainable News

The Earthshot Prize: Clean our air

By Zarkon Group,15/11/2022

Carbon dioxide is not the only pollutant we need to worry about. Carbon emissions may harm our planet, but emissions of nitrogen oxides, ozone, and particulate matter harm our health. According to the World Health Organization, almost everyone on earth – 99 per cent of the global population to be precise – breathes air that contains high levels of pollutants. And the combined effects of air pollution, both outside and within the home, are associated with 7 million premature deaths each year.

Thankfully, the 2022 finalists of The Earthshot Prize are showing how innovation can help us to clean the air we breathe.

PROVIDING LOW-INCOME FAMILIES WITH CLEAN, SAFE, AND AFFORDABLE COOKSTOVES

Household air pollution is a major threat to public health – particularly in low- and middle-income countries. In total, the World Health Organization reports that one-third of the global population cooks using either open fires or inefficient stoves. This releases pollutants that cause a range of health issues from strokes and heart disease to lung cancer. Mukuru Clean Stoves designs and manufactures safer, cleaner cookstoves for low-income families in East Africa. Read more

REPLACING DIESEL GENERATORS ON CONSTRUCTION SITES

What powers all the cranes, hoists, and welders you see on a construction site? The answer is almost always diesel. Most sites run on noisy, polluting generators – one of the reasons why the construction sector is responsible for 11 per cent of global carbon emissions. These diesel generators also damage the health of local people – particularly in the tightly packed urban areas where most projects take place. Now, one startup has developed a battery energy system that reduces the noise, carbon emissions, and air pollution generated by building projects. Read more

ACCELERATING THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE TRANSITION IN EAST AFRICA

The International Energy Agency estimates that, globally, 13 per cent of new cars sold in 2022 will be electric. But in the transition to electric vehicles (EVs), sub-Saharan Africa faces challenges. These include an unreliable electricity supply, low vehicle affordability, and the dominance of used vehicles. At the same time, transport makes up 10 per cent of Africa’s total greenhouse gas emissions, so there is a need for change. Now, one company is providing electric motorbikes and buses tailored to the needs of the African market. Read more

Written by: Matthew Hempstead

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Reference

Architecture

Diébédo Francis Kéré Makes History as the 2022 Pritzker Prize Winner

By Zarkon Group,18/03/2022

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Burkina Faso-born architect, educator and social activist Diébédo Francis Kéré has made history after being named the 2022 Pritzker Prize laureate. Known as Francis Kéré, the founder of Kéré Architecture is recognized for his “commitment to social justice and engagement, and intelligent use of local materials to connect and respond to the natural climate, he works in marginalized countries laden with constraints and adversity, where architecture and infrastructure are absent.” He is the first African and the first Black architect to win the prize since it began being awarded in 1979.

Trained first as a carpenter and later as an architect, his deep knowledge and concern for materiality is visible in his work. Though based in Berlin, his practice often gravitates towards works throughout the continent of Africa. From contemporary school institutions to health facilities, and professional housing to civic buildings and public spaces, his designs steer clear of simple categorizations: global vs. local, aesthetic vs. social, and so on.

As the Pritzker jury succinctly put it, “Francis Kéré’s entire body of work shows us the power of materiality rooted in place. His buildings, for and with communities, are directly of those communities – in their making, their materials, their programs and their unique characters. They are tied to the ground on which they sit and to the people who sit within them. They have presence without pretense and an impact shaped by grace.”

Though many architectural enthusiasts around the world may only now be acquainting themselves with his larger body of work, they are likely already familiar with his design for the 2017 Serpentine Pavilion — a timber structure accented with indigo blue that ingeniously connected different times and spaces and reinterpreted form of the massive tree at the heart of his home town.

His signature architectural vocabulary of double roofs, thermal mass, wind towers, indirect lighting, cross ventilation and shade chambers (replacing conventional windows, doors and columns), confounds attempts to separate practicality from poetry in design. Yet, while Kéré’s architectural reputation is strongly tied to the work’s built realization, yet, his working images and visualizations are also remarkable in their own right.

“Francis Kéré’s work also reminds us of the necessary struggle to change unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, as we strive to provide adequate buildings and infrastructure for billions in need,” the Jury noted. “He raises fundamental questions of the meaning of permanence and durability of construction in a context of constant technological changes and of use and re-use of structures. At the same time his development of a contemporary humanism merges a deep respect for history, tradition, precision, written and unwritten rules.”

Reference

Prize

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Marina Tabassum

Tatiana Bilbao

Kongjian Yu

Jeanne Gang

MVRDV (Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, and Nathalie de Vries)

James Corner

Frida Escobedo

Sir David Adjaye

Toshiko Mori

Mariam Kamara

Greenhouse-in-a-box among 2022 Earthshot Prize winners

The Earthshot Prize: Clean our air

Diébédo Francis Kéré Makes History as the 2022 Pritzker Prize Winner

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