Blue Award 09

"Building for an environment worth living in"

Competition presentation: 10 November 2009, 10 am
Submission Deadline: 1 February 2010, noon

With the debut of the international Blue Award, the Department of Spatial and Sustainable Design, from the Institute of Architecture and Design, is announcing an award for the best student works in the topic of sustainable architecture and building culture. The opening presentation of the Blue Award will take place on 10 November 2009 at the TU Vienna. From that point on, works from Bachelor, Master or Diploma studies can be submitted. The competition is open worldwide to students of architecture, regional planning and urbanism. Prizes totaling 15.000 euros will be awarded.

The competition was initiated by the architect Univ. Prof. Mag.arch. Françoise-Hélène Jourda, director of the Department of Spatial and Sustainable Design, and functions under the patronage of the International Union of Architects (UIA).

The award’s main purpose is to encourage the topic of sustainability in architecture, regional planning and urbanism. Concurrently, it shall recognize and award students and teachers dedicated in pursuing the topic in their studies. The Blue Award aims at helping standardize the exchange between various architecture schools and faculties.

The Blue Award will be handed out in 3 categories
The Blue Award will be distributed among the three categories "Urban Transformation and Development", "Building with Ecological Systems" and "Building in Existing Structures".

The emphasis of the category "Urban Transformation and Development" includes topics from urban redevelopment, renewal, and restructuring of existing city fabric to development of new housing structures and typologies. Concepts dealing with self-sufficient housing developments, environment friendly forms of mobility, and new interpretations of open/public spaces in urban areas are equally important to this category.

In the category "Building with Ecological Systems", submitted projects are to reveal the basic principles of sustainable planning and construction, including its social, economical and ecological factors, in the form of an architectonic design.

The topics of the category "Building in Existing Structures" are methods of renovation, adaptation and conversion. Beyond these usual themes, projects will be awarded which succeed in increasing significantly the average longevity and usage capacity of existing structures, as well as projects which reduce the volumetric demand of new construction.

Jury and Exhibition
An international jury, presided by Prof. Thomas Herzog, university professor and architect in Munich, and also expert on sustainable building, will choose the prize winners in each of the three categories previously mentioned. The awards ceremony will take place in April 2010 at the TU Vienna.

The winning entries will be presented to the public in an exhibition and published catalog.
The prize shall be awarded in the future on a regular basis.

Schedule and Facts
Competition Presentation: Tuesday, 10 November 2009, 10 am
Admission: design projects in architecture, urbanism and regional planning, and of the semester SS08, WS08/09, SS09, or WS09/10
Submission Deadline: until Monday, 1 February 2010, noon
BLUE AWARDs Ceremony: Thursday 22 April 2010, 6 pm
Exhibition: 23-30 April 2010

View the BLUE Award pdf-download for additional details: Terms of Eligibility.

Further Information:
Ass.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.techn. Anton Kottbauer
Institute of Architecture and Design
Dept. for Spatial and Sustainable Design • TU Vienna
Tel.: +43/1/588 01 - 25601
eMail: akottbau@raumgestaltung.tuwien.ac.at
web: www.blueaward.at