GLOBAL a ARD for Sustainable Architecturetm
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Press Pack GLOBAL A�ARD FOR SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURETM SYMPOSIUM 2015 Monday 4th MAY 2015 14h00 – 19h00 Cité de l’architecture & du patrimoine Palais de Chaillot / Auditorium / 7, avenue Albert de Mun Paris 16e (M° Iéna ou Trocadéro) sUMMary IXth edItIon of the Global award for sUstaInable archItectUre™ 5 award-wInnInG archItects foUnder Portraits by Marie-Hélène Contal LOCUS Foundation School of Architecture of Talca, Talca, Chile Santiago Cirugeda, Recetas Urbanas, Seville, Spain Partners Jan Gehl, Copenhagen, Denmark Cité de l’architecture & du patrimoine Rotor, Brussels, Belgium Fondation d’entreprise GDF Suez Marco Casagrande, Casagrande Laboratory, Helsinki, Bouygues Bâtiment International Finland, Taiwan * With a text on the School of Architecture of Talca by Miquel Adrià, director of the architectural review Arquire, Mexico scIentIfIc coMMIttee Translations: Rupert Hebblethwaite, Edith Ochs Cité de l’Architecture & du patrimoine, Paris Centre International pour la Ville, l’Architecture et le Paysage, Bruxelles bIbIoGraPhy Global award 2015 Università IUAV Venezia, Venise Museum of Finnish Architecture, Helsinki International Architecture Biennale of Ljubljana LOCUS Foundation CONTACTS Cité de l’architecture & du patrimoine Département du Développement Culturel Marie-Hélène Contal, directrice [email protected] Press contact Cité de l’architecture & du patrimoine Fabien Tison Le Roux 01 58 51 52 85 | [email protected] Caroline Loizel 01 58 51 52 82 | [email protected] LOCUs Jana Revedin Prof arch PhD, Founding President 38 rue Copernic 75116 Paris 01 40 67 06 40 | [email protected] www.locus-foundation.org www.citechaillot.fr Cover page : Santiago Cirugeda, Recetas Urbanas – Self-building of the « Aula Abierta » on the site of La Carpa – Espacio Artistico, Sevilla, 2010 © Juan Gabriel Pelegrina Gabriel 2010 © Juan » on the site of La Carpa – Espacio Artistico, Abierta Sevilla, of the « Aula – Self-building Urbanas Cirugeda, Recetas page : Santiago Cover The Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2015, annually explore one particular area in this complex chain was created in 2006 to foster the worldwide de- in which the debate should develop and the protagonists should bate on sustainable architecture and urban deve- be identified and supported. The theme selected for the Global lopment by the LOCUS Foundation, with the Award 2015 is “Freedom of Thought” which, in our profes- Cité de l’architecture & du patrimoine as cultural sion, refers to the definition of design as scientific research, partner. the self-critical transmission of knowledge and the humble art of dialogue. Every year, the Global Award rewards five archi- tects who share the ethics of sustainable deve- Even if architects are broadly engaged in innovative design across the globe it is still necessary to decant and transmit their experience lopment and have constructed an innovative and and then to shake up teaching and objectify and capitalise upon holistic approach, whether in the West or in the the new knowledge. By honouring five rebels in the fields of emerging countries, in developed environments research and transmission, this year’s Global Award is sup- or on behalf of the planet’s most vulnerable popu- porting those driving a profound reform of the profession’s lations. profile. 2 The purpose of the Global Award for Sustai- nable Architecture is to create a community of « Where are our laboratories ? » these highly talented architects, to transmit their approach and to stimulate their exchange of In examining the five selected experiments one first notices the extent to which the building workshop model has spread. This demands knowledge and experience. Since 2007, forty-five the question, ‘why ?’ architects, great pioneers and young rebels of the Invented in the experimental Bauhütten of the Early German Mo- global scene, have won the award. derns, this teaching method was re-established twenty years ago by Samuel Mockbee1 in Auburn, Alabama. It consists of immersing Whereas the role of architecture as a commissioned activity – cru- students in reality: an urban analysis of needs and resources is carried cially intensified by the ongoing but questionably beneficial globa- out with inhabitants, a programme is developed, a project is studied lisation of the profession - leaves it limited scope to truly address and built. The very concrete fabrication of a project metabolises the the challenge of dwindling resources and unequal development, lessons learned in an experiment which is also a social experience the Global Award and its winners confirm that architects should and an act of self-realisation for the student. Auburn’s diplomas are challenge these realities of the contemporary inhabited world and awarded on the basis of the facility or house that a student has pro- seek to redefine the role of the architect and planner as a long-term duced within two years – from first sketch to final tile. At Bang- “companion” in the definition of programmes, design and produc- kok or Ceylon, Norwegian students supervised by TYIN 1 spend tion “with the people by the people”. two to three months on the ground. At Hangzhou, Professor Wang 1 The Global Award, which numbers Wang Shu, Carin Smuts, Ale- Shu presides over a nomadic school, whose students cross rural China jandro Aravena, Francis Kéré and Al Borde 1 amongst its discoveries, addressing the redevelopment of a much spoilt countryside. is slowly uniting the federative scene which engages in this global Carried out under the umbrella of universities, these actions are debate. The dialogue amongst experts in the fields of self-building also used to develop methods: participative design processes which and popular habitat, architect-geographers or anthropologists ... foster small-scale approaches in the face of large-scale planning. addresses the issue of the major demographic, ecological and urban The result is a form of teaching which disseminates new practices transitions which signal the dawning of the Anthropocene, the age such as tactical urbanism which addresses catalytic points. As a in which it is human activity that is transforming the climate and counter-proposal, the engagement of students initiates from a pro- global habitability. cess which shakes up rules and norms as a way of helping them One can see that this debate has evolved considerably since 2006. to evolve. In the area of precarious habitat, it compensates for the Then, one laughed at the term “ecology” but, in 2015, the archi- shortcomings of the state and the lack of rights and works with tectural climate has changed. Why ? A conscience has emerged and inhabitants on projects of self-development in order to realise their nobody dissents at talk of the challenge of today’s transitions. Even “right to the city”. if this talk includes an element of “green washing”, it has never- Hence, these workshops are also seen as a means of practical and theless mobilised a lot of political and social energy. ethical innovation in the name of what Jana Revedin calls “aca- Today, having cleared this new ground, the Global Award is deepe- demic social responsibility” 3 : universities should become enga- ning its work to address the new stage of the debate. The LOCUS ged in the true aim of social transformation through Design rather Foundation as its organiser, the Scientific Committee and the Cité than producing and reproducing self-referential, sterile knowledge de l’Architecture as its cultural partner have decided to take a the- enclosed within elitist “ivory towers”. Architects and urban and matic approach. As an observer, the Global Award will, starting in landscape designers can “walk down to the city”, as she puts it, and 1 Among the winners of the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture: Wang Shu (2007), Carin Smuts (2008), Francis Kéré (2009), Al Borde (2013), Rural Studio, esta- blished by Samuel Mockbee (2008), TYIN (2012) and Thomas Herzog (2009). 2 The Rebel City: Radicant Design through Civic Engagement (Francais: La Ville Rebelle: Processus Radicants par Engagement Civique), a collective work directed by Jana Revedin, contributions from Christopher Alexander, Al Borde, Marco Casagrande, Santiago Cirugeda, Marie-Hélène Contal, Salma Samar Damluji, Yona Friedman, Philippe Madec, Jana Revedin, Juan Román, Rotor, Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu, Gallimard Collection Manifesto, September 2015 3 In 2015 the Scientific Committee received more than 200 international dossiers, made up of both submissions from LOCUS’ network of experts and Global Award winners and direct submissions on the website from architects, architectural critics, universities, public institutions and associations. 3 hand over their findings to the communities and the responsible ment, Santiago Cirugeda always integrates students into his pro- city planners so that, once the transformation process has been ini- jects in order to train them in using a different approach – and also, tiated, they can take it to the next stage “on their own”. Academic without doubt, in order to ensure that they transmit this vision social responsibility also turns out to be economic social responsi- back to the teaching committees of their schools. The office Rece- bility because knowledge is transferred directly from young teams tas Urbanas publishes citizens’ self-development manuals (the reuse of future researchers and professionals to inhabitants and other of empty buildings, appropriation of empty public spaces, access to stakeholders. green energy …)