i.lab Italcementi Kilometro Rosso Science and Technology Park Via Stezzano, 87 – Bergamo 2015
WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT SPECIAL PRIZE TO PAULA NASCIMENTO ANGOLA PAVILION DESIGNER AT EXPO MILAN 2015
Jury of the arcVision Prize 2015
Shaikha Al Maskari – Board Member of the Arab International Women’s Forum AIWF Vera Baboun – Mayor of Bethlehem Municipality Daria Bignardi – Writer and journalist, ambassador of WE-Women for Expo Odile Decq – Founder of the Odile Decq architectural practice Yvonne Farrell – Co-founder of the Grafton Architects architecture practice Louisa Hutton – Founding partner of the Sauerbruch Hutton architectural practice Suhasini Mani Ratnam – Actress, producer and writer deeply involved in community service Samia Nkrumah – President of the Kwame Nkrumah Pan-African Center Benedetta Tagliabue – Founding partner with Enric Miralles of the EMBT architectural practice Martha Thorne – Director of the Pritzker Prize
2015 Edition THE NOMINEES
Atxu Amann ALCOCER – Spain Suhasini AYER-GUIGAN – India Tatiana BILBAO – Mexico Giulia DE APPOLONIA – Italy DES CLICS ET DES CALQUES – France Angela DEUBER – Switzerland DROST VAN VEEN – The Netherlands Simona MALVEZZI – Italy Toshiko MORI – Usa Emmanuelle MOUREAUX – Japan Manar MOURSI – Egypt Kate OTTEN – South Africa Samira RATHOD – India Patama ROONRAKWIT – Thailand Raphaelle SEGOND – France Myriam SOUSSAN – Morocco Kerstin THOMPSON – Australia Sofia TSIRAKI – Greece Rula YAGHMOUR – Jordan Michaela WOLF – Italy Zoka ZOLA – Usa
Now that I’ve grown into adulthood and looking back to my past, I’ve to recognize the fortune of being an architect. In architecture, the arrangement between the professional and academic fields produces a mutual enrichment that join all the areas of activity. University is the context where contemporary issues arise: innovation, sustainability, mediation and new communication strategies and instruments are subjects that are analyzed and continually updated to be incorporated into the academic practice / research and later used in the daily work at the office, ensuring current methods, tools and language. In reverse, the design and constructive experience acquired throughout one’s professional life is shared not only through teaching, but also by giving lectures and participating in seminars and publications within the academia community. In my particular case, I have a special interest in developing experimental actions with students, which implies a collaborative process to construct alternative buildings with recycled materials without ecological footprint and take other urban actions that focus on gender and other issues involving an intellectual ideological position. “ATXU AMANN ALCOCER – Spain
Designing is taking responsibility for your imagination. Beauty and aesthetics in the built and natural environment is essential for a healthy living. Minimalism is an integral part of designing to create simple and elegant forms in keeping with the sustainable and green building practices. The space user/developer is part of the design team and not just a client. We seek active and informed participation with our clients. The planning and design should be most appropriate to the context – site conditions, function, climate, culture, building materials and technology, ease of execution, cost effectiveness and environment responsibility. “ ”SUHASINI AYER-GUIGAN – India
We do architecture to raise human quality of life. We work with our environment, our surrounding materials, hand labor and techniques, opening channels of communication between the various social sectors, and detonate productive activities that enable different aesthetic experiences with strong ideas and direct definitions and intentions. Through our multicultural and multidisciplinary office, we try to understand our world, to translate its rigid codes into architecture. Through these strands, the office regenerates spaces “humanized” to be aware and react to global capitalism, opening up niches for cultural and economic development and creating a climate of collaboration where there are various disciplinary resonances in technical areas, theoretical and artistic works that, in one way or another, affect the patterns and structures of society. The office associates work on the theme of resonance, which matches the frequency of a given system with the frequency of an external drive, with certain information generated by another system. As with the ethics of otherness of Levinas, the office incorporates the other who has not been recognized or accepted by the intellectual, political and business oligarchy, but who is on the lookout for a qualitative change and structural life. At the end we are building with the responsibility of understanding all that we do and we mean to do, we learn through it and we work with it. ”TATIANA BILBAO – Mexico
Despite a current trend which increasingly interprets architecture as a discipline intended to determine the image of the building and not its substance, I believe that the central role of the architect is to direct and coordinate the various disciplines that contribute to the design of a building. This way s/he is able to synergistically achieve a highly valued result simultaneously along the technical, aesthetical and spatial dimensions. This coordinator role necessarily relies on the ability and intelligence to fill and grasp the existing conditions, to “listen” in silence to the site, history, people and engineers, and to produce a 360-degree response. In this perspective, architecture is a social discipline, which plays the fundamental role of shaping all the spaces of our everyday lives that eventually affect the activities that take place within them. I strongly believe that this focus and projection on the end-user distinguish architecture from any other artistic discipline. “ GIULIA DE APPOLONIA – Italy
des Clics et des Calques is a team of three young architects, coming from the same architecture school, Paris-Belleville. We attended different studios, in Paris, but also in Mexico and Chile, which feed the collective under creation with several project approaches. After school, we started to work in agencies, while increasing participative experiences, looking for alternatives and involvement. First commissions from private clients started coming; at the same time, we were also getting involved in idea competitions. Then, we joined a community housing project in Pantin. We decided to set up our premises as part of this project. We are naturally attracted by projects in which the human and environmental dimensions take a central place. Each project becomes an exploration using things already there, taking advantage of the materials in order to tell new stories. In summer 2013 we made a tour to give conferences at several architecture universities in Colombia (Bogota, Medellin, Cali, Armenia) as part of the AJAP exhibition. We were also invited to an artistic residency in the Quindío: there we developed a participatory bamboo construction with the inhabitants of a village, an Indian community. “ DES CLICS ET DES CALQUES – France
Architecture today is defined less by beauty than it is by ugliness. We should begin architecture with a longing, a desire, an idea. We got lost in the complexity of architecture. Architecture is the backdrop for a piece of life for a society. When we build in the narrower sense, we build our life at the same time in the wider sense. We should take the physical boundaries seriously again. Most things we build make our environment not better but worse. We live in a time in which it is predominantly impossible to understand how things are made. We should be able to understand how something is made intuitively. Construction is an underestimated and intrinsic part of architecture, but since we no longer build with our hands, construction has become indirect, remote and alien. My work is an attempt to escape this alienation. The baseless separation of the idea and the execution degrades Architecture. To create and to construct need to be inseparable. As architects, we have a great responsibility in society which we should take more seriously. “ ANGELA DEUBER – Switzerland
Together. Collaborating closely with clients and users is essential to Simone Drost. After all, they are the people who will occupy and manage a building later. Their enthusiasm and input inspires her. Wanting to find out what is really important, Simone poses questions until she gets to the heart of the matter. Collaborating with other disciplines is also important. An integral process involving engineers, building physicists, architects, landscape architects, urban designers and artists deepens understanding and enhances commitment. It also means co-creation. Nature versus city. The most important sources of inspiration for Simone Drost are always nature and the city. Nature provides an infinite source of inspiration in terms of form, tactility, light, scent and colour, all of which trigger our senses. The city is of another order, with its complex history and constant innovation and vibrancy. The context of a site, be it urban or rural, provides the first intuitive inspiration for a design. With these sources of inspiration, Simone creates an architecture of the senses. “We are bombarded with an excess of images all day long. What matters is that buildings invite us to stop and really see, smell, feel, hear and taste things. Simone has a perfect sense of mood and effortlessly understands what a site needs. In that way, places can retain their identity in a contemporary atmosphere and form. Deepening and future value. For Simone Drost, research is essential. “If we really want to make a substantial contribution as designers, then we should concern ourselves with the future value of our designs.” The value of a design lies in making basic choices that need to be grounded in thorough research. Her ambition is to propose designs that not only meet the needs of users but also endure for a long time on that particular site. That is why new approaches must be taken, with specific themes in the realm of sustainability, material applications, nature and building, architecture and care, children and education. To this end, she collaborates with various researchers active in these domains. She also works on these subjects with students in studios. “
SIMONE DROST – Studio DROST VAN VEEN – The Netherlands
As an architect I aim for designs with a clear identity. Buildings should surprise and intrigue with multilayered meanings and communicate at more than one level. They should be grounded to their location by a strong relationship with the environment – the landscape or urban context. The designs should give clear answers to complex architectural issues, be sustainable at all levels and take users seriously. Architecture should tell a story. On the outside a building should make an visual statement in the environment. From the inside it should offer a special experience to the user. To achieve that in my designs, I look for a field of tension. For example by using recognisable shapes and transforming them into contemporary forms, or by using pronounced contrasts or joining existing ones. Often this results in inventive spatial solutions and innovative constructions. The use of well detailed materials and colour are important means of articulating this vision. “ EVELIEN VAN VEEN – Studio DROST VAN VEEN – The Netherlands
I am interested in public spaces projects because designing a public space means that you have to deal with many different things, it’s a complex process: first of all, there is the context which most of the time is a historical context, then you have to deal with memory, monuments, political issues. I think that as a designer working in public spaces you have the responsibility to make yourself numerous questions and not just inventing something new. Instead of creating new objects I try to activate what already exists: like abandoned spaces, in-between spaces. And of course you have to deal with the multiplicity of the users, the huge number of it. And then of course you have to consider the central role of the users as an active participant in the architecture experience. Public architecture must be in some way relational and participatory because it is first of all social. Public Architecture has to be communicative. “ SIMONA MALVEZZI – Italy
My objective for being an architect is simply to improve the quality of human life. Architecture intersects with everyday life of inhabitants, workers, and public. Environment promotes better work and social conditions and creates memorable moments on daily and special occasions. Innovation in technology is integrated into the comprehensive creative process to optimize the conditions from the point of view of structure, environmental systems, ecology and sustainability; and is manifested by creation of special atmosphere and aesthetics, simple and elegant. The effect of the place translates into a type of ethos of built environment that everyone can share and understand. Architecture is a complex craft and it operates at various levels and scales. I work to assist in creating communities that often share complex commonalities by layering many levels of experiences. My interest is based on the triad of materiality, fabrication process and performance which helps to focus my work. I test my concepts with different modes of production, diverse climate, site, culture and economies. “ TOSHIKO MORI – USA
In 1995, a visit to Tokyo as an architectural student gave me the passion for colors. Overwhelming number of store signs, electrical cables, and fragments of sky between the buildings – it was the flow of colors, built a complex depth, creating three-dimensional layers in Tokyo. I felt a lot of emotions seeing these colors, my mind decided to live in this city. Receiving French Architect License in 1996, I moved to Tokyo. In response to the experiences of colors and layers in Tokyo, I came up with a concept called shikiri, which means dividing (creating) space with colors. I use colors as three-dimensional elements, like layers, in order to create spaces – not as a finishing touch applied on surfaces. This vibrant city is motivation, adding emotion to my design. I want to share emotions, let people feel space with three dimensional layers of colors. Shikiri demonstrates that colors in architectural spaces can give more than a space, but a space with additional layers of human emotion. “ EMMANUELLE MOUREAUX – Japan
My work spans the fields of architecture, urbanism, design and art. Three years after completing my Masters Degree from Princeton University, I founded Studio Meem, an interdisciplinary design studio based in Cairo focusing on articulating the specificity of the local ecology and the rich cultural heritage of the region through a contemporary voice. My objective being to create work that is provocative and stimulating but very rooted in this context. Since its foundation, Studio Meem has collaborated with a vast network of artisans, artists and landscape designers, with the conviction that dialogue and cooperation enhances creative possibilities. In addition to my practice I believe in actively participating in academia. I regularly lecture and conduct workshops as well as publish my writing in international publications. My writings on urban issues have appeared in Thresholds, Lunch, Magaz and Al Masry El Yowm. My imaginary pink plastic pirate utopias in a post-tsunami Tokyo are forthcoming in the latest Monnik publication Still City Tokyo. Most recently, I collaborated with the Japan Foundation to produce an instructive publication for design students in Cairo. I have also conducted workshops in Beirut and Dubai and recently lectured at MSA University and the German University in Cairo. “ MANAR MOURSI – Egypt
To create buildings that nurture the human spirit and inspire the imagination. To achieve excellence in architecture in the specific context of Africa. To find an appropriate response to the particularities of each project, in terms of programme, site, client/user needs and specifics of the environment. To design spaces and places that are inclusive. To design places that places that are economically, environmentally and socially sustainable. To give people a sense of “ownership” – to engender a feeling of pride and relevance in the users of the building. To run my practice is a non-hierarchical organization that encourages teamwork and stimulates team spirit. To promote the empowerment of women in a male-dominated industry. “ KATE OTTEN – South Africa
Every building endeavor must be a responsible solution in structure, services infrastructure, cost & function. It must have a purpose, and above all, dare its own consequences in the environment; but…in all of the above, if there is poetry, perhaps it becomes architecture. Every project is an opportunity to understand this world better. The world that is the relationship of people with other people, and of people with their environment. “ SAMIRA RATHOD – India
Most of the time, architects think that what they’ve learnt makes them an expert, that they always know better. That they know where and how people should live, in what or where they should be, what is the good environment. I think this is wrong because the architect will not always be there. I mean, after you design, you leave. I have the sense that for so many projects, after they are built, the owner has to knock down or add something, change this, change that. This is a waste of money. And it’s not very healthy working this way, and especially when you work with the poor. They don’t have money to fix the architect’s mistakes. So it’s better to think and work in another way. The architectural knowledge and skills I learnt are important, but they never taught me that the design process should be done by an architect in partnership with, and as a servant of, the owner of the place. Yet this saves cost and also makes the building more efficient. When you work with the poor you are not allowed to spend a lot. And when the poor have to spend their own money, it’s even more important because you cannot afford to make mistakes. “ PATAMA ROONRAKWIT – Thailand
Housing stays at the heart of her concerns. Living in the city, living into a landscape, whatever the area, housing still asks the same questions: How can we live in symbiosis with the environment? How to live large in little spaces? How to have a beautiful light and a healthy living? Working at the same time on collective dwelling, on individual houses and on urban planning permits to Raphaëlle Segond to think at many scales, from furniture to city with the aim of giving extent and meaning to her projects. “ RAPHAELLE SEGOND – France
In today’s consumer society, architecture itself has also become an object of consumption whose practice is oriented towards a commercial approach. The results are conventional lifestyle and design patterns, living places where man can hardly identify himself with in a meaningful way, and modes of construction and operating procedures that are destroying our planet. These observations led me to the architecture I practice today, whose cybernetic approach is based on the relationship between the elements of a balanced system (in equilibrium). The elements must be as simple as possible on the formal and constructive levels, but must be able to establish complex relationships between them. The goal is to increase the compatible possibilities of inter- components relationships to achieve multiple formal combinations. This results in a dynamic architecture-system, scalable and that potentially contains many spatial configurations. After years of research, testing and proposals, two projects 100% self sustainable (autonomous) could be achieved in accordance with these principles, offering amazing, fun and functional areas built at low costs. This fundamental first step allows considering the possibility of an autonomous city, and the consequences of this radically bioclimatic approach announce a new paradigm of urban life in harmony with the cycles of nature. “ MYRYAM SOUSSAN – Morocco
The potential to extract civic opportunity is a key motivation in KTA’s work. Whether a private dwelling or a community building, civic architecture enables meaningful relationships and connections between people and place. Its value lies in what it contributes to its situation – built, ecological, cultural– as part of a greater whole. A counter argument to the reduction of architecture to icon in the fashioning of our cities, our projects seek to foreground the act of living and joys of occupation. Robust, generous and direct in their material and formal character they exploit architecture as an instrument for reinforcing the spatial particularities of place and constructing the identity and experience of the local. “ KERSTIN THOMPSON – Australia
I gradually decided that I wanted to become an architect, while I was attending a painting and sculpturing course at school (around the age of 13). There, I started to develop a manner of thinking, of looking at things, of doing things that was, until then, latent in me. I started a uniform training of the “head”, the “hand” and the “heart”, an education based on subjective experience and objective rationale thinking. This combination led me finally to study architecture (and not fine arts). I think that nowadays, in my country the architecture community usually seems to give equal recognition to the work of male and female designers. Nevertheless, women who decide to have a family have plenty of additional activities, obligations and responsibilities, and they have to work the double to overcome successfully to their role in the professional field and in the family, as well. “ SOFIA TSIRAKI – Greece
Born in an architect’s house, my encounter with architecture came too soon. The renders my father used to bring home seemed to solve all the world problems in his daughter’s mind. I grew up wanting to design that perfect family house that brought love and warmth to its residents. I remember sketching schools and hospitals, green parks that will come to change the landscape of my city. As I went through college, I was fed with even more of those Utopian dreams. I remember always being rebellious in my architectural solutions. Professors used to tell me just to enjoy the ‘aesthetics’ of design… but to me architecture was a synonymous with change, development and always a chance to impact my context. However, growing up in the Middle East – a struggling region with economical, social and many political issues – means to be hit hard by the ‘reality’ of architecture. As I started practicing, design felt useless, a more avant-garde experience. People resisted change and had higher priorities to call for. I created an escape strategy of working on a smaller scale on social projects that educate more about design and how to utilize it for development. Yet this brought me back to practicing architecture with better awareness. I was lucky to work on projects that offered more to the society. To me architecture now is a complex synthesis of individual and communal desires, the context, the cultural and environmental appropriateness and technological means that can adapt specifically to each proposal. I believe architecture must step back from the ‘architects ego’ and his high aesthetical fashionable solutions. Architecture must set different priorities and come closer to the people to ultimately become a liberating process. “ RULA YAGHMOUR – Jordan
To me, architecture is an ongoing construction process, a relationship with the landscape. But is in the understanding of human thinking and living that I found my deeper interest. It is also a collective thinking process – with the client, a development, a game with surfaces, colors and scales as well as an understanding of locations and the necessity to accept the given location as it is. We made ours the quote from an unknown architect “You shouldn’t build on one place, but you should build the place”. We try to take up local, traditional building elements, the so called local reference of materials. We look at the history with the perspective for the future. Materials and objects found on the building site might have a special value and they later influence the design process. The things worthy to preserve are reused and inserted. During the work within or with the old existing building the new enters into dialogue with the old, though the new remains recognizable as such and claims its position. The new volume continues and shapes the landscape. “ MICHAELA WOLF – Italy
I enjoy shifting interests from project to projects, but there are a few things in common to all our projects: We include all concern and criteria from as many different areas, regardless of how restricting they seem at that point, with faith that they will eventually enrich the project. Then we input these through a very tight filter that is our project objective. We aim that project outcomes are as far-reaching and as broad as possible. In every project there is a desire to give people new experiences—ideally exquisite, or cathartic experiences, or deeply satisfying experiences—and to make spaces for genuine encounters between people. There is also a desire to understand the right relationship between architecture and nature. In every project we spend countless hours balancing all elements of the project, material or non-material, hoping to breathe life into the project. Now writing to an all female jury, I laugh as I realize how female these instincts are, because for a long time they seemed our peculiar private obsessions. There is also a (gender neutral?) trait to think deductively rather then inductively: first to look for new viewpoints, then new strategies, and only then new solutions to any given problem or situation. “ ZOKA ZOLA – Usa
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