Prizes go to Spain, Austria, Japan and Germany
The first prizes in the 2010 contractworld.award have gone to entrants from
Spain, Austria, Japan and Germany. This coveted international architecture award
was presented to the winners at the official prize-giving ceremony in Hannover
on 16 January 2010.
Numerous top architectural and interior design offices had competed for
Europe’s most important and lucrative award for innovative interior design
concepts, now worth a total of 60,000 euros in prize money. Just how important
the contractworld.award is in the eyes of the worldwide architectural community
can be seen from the level of international participation. More than half of the
623 projects submitted – 356 to be precise – came from offices outside Germany.
The jury was looking for innovative interior design concepts in the four
categories “Offices”, “Hotels”, “Shops” and “Education/Healthcare”. The
principal criteria on which the entries were judged were quality, functionality
and aesthetic value, as well as innovative treatment of space, materials, colour
and surface texture or finish.
The first prize in the category “Offices” goes to the office of bailo + rull
/ ADD + ARQUITECTURA in Spain for the project “LANDSCAPE HALL”. The Town Hall in
Manresa in Spain stands right on the town’s central marketplace. A new extension
has been inserted into the existing building. Despite the resulting
unconventional form, which stands in stark contrast to the existing architecture
of the old town, the new extension has been successfully integrated into the
original stone building by the use of the same colour paint finish throughout.
The jury was fascinated by “the way an addition to a historic building can both
fit in and yet retain its own distinctive character”.
In the category “Hotels” the first place goes to the office feld72 from
Vienna for their Million Donkey Hotel in Prata Sannita, Italy. This is a
community project devised by a group of architects with the active involvement
of the local village population. The brief was to restore the link between two
parts of the village that had been separated by empty buildings. The result is a
rambling hotel complex made up of all sorts of very different rooms and
functional areas, which extends over various buildings and former ruins. The
jury’s verdict: “An exemplary project, which has secured the continued existence
and future of a social group and a village.”
The project “Tierra” by Ryo Matsui Architects Inc. from Japan carried off the
first prize in the category “Shops”. The Tierra hairdressing salon is located in
Tokyo, Japan. A whole series of hairdressing chairs are lined up inside a
clearly structured space. A separate area is accessed through a screen of
filigree arches. These arches, infilled with mirrors, are continued along both
long walls of the salon.
The Technical University of Kaiserslautern wins the first prize in the
category “Education/Healthcare” with the project “Mini-campus Pfaffenberg –
Building 1 at TU Kaiserslautern”. For the conversion of the architecture faculty
building at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern all the internal
partitions from the 1950s were removed to open up the interior and create bright
new, almost transparent, spaces. The jury’s verdict: “The project brings out the
power and beauty of what was already there before, and opens up new ways of
appreciating existing spaces and interiors.”
Four additional special awards will be presented exclusively for avant-garde
projects submitted by “New Generation” entrants (architects/interior designers
under the age of 40). A shortlist of “New Generation” entrants in each category
has been drawn up, and the final prize-winners will be chosen at the show on the
basis of presentations given by the project architects before a live jury.
Download this pdf for the complete list of award winners:
contractworld.award prize winners
Further Information:
web:
www.contractworld.com/award_e?x=1
german version 