January 2009

Architecture, materials and systems

Munich, January 2009. Despite the fact that times are predominantly being disrupted in terms of the economy, BAU had a full programme. The new commissioner general of this large construction salon, Markus Geisenberger, has every reason to be satisfied as there was a large contingent of international participants (a quarter of the 1924 exhibitors came from 42 different countries) and because from now on the salon will represent “the overlap of architecture and technical realisation”. Seventeen halls comprising an area of 180.000 m², exhibit more than building materials alone. There is also an extensive programme which bears the salon’s present subtitle “Architecture, materials and systems”. From façades to elevators, from product leaders in aluminium to locks, from solar energy techniques to tiling. The salon attracts an increasing number of visitors, i.e. +38% between 2005 and 2007. Supplementary to the presentations of the exhibitors, BAU 2009 discussed essential themes for architects and promoters in 2 forums. The first, “macro architecture”, focused on the dialogue between architects and industry ranging from a building’s façade to the interior design. Through daily discussions, the other forum, “the future of building”, focused on the theme of mega cities, future habitats and solar buildings. The latter theme, introduced by BAU’s Director-General Reinhard Pfeiffer, included the film “Last call for Planet Earth” and the presentation of the prize winners of our large competition “Archi-Bau Awards 2009”. A total of twelve of the 432 projects entered from 41 countries were selected in two stages. We offer our congratulations to the winners and the honourable mentions for proposals that appealed to the jury for their appropriateness. We would also like to draw special attention to the Spanish agency Solinas Verd Arquitectos and the Danish student Tim Nørlund Jensen both of whom, and this is exceptional, were in the running with two projects each.

The Archi-Europe Team

Europan 10

Monday 19 January 2009 the tenth session of Europan opens. You will find on our website information on the theme, the sites, the calender and the rules and will be able to register and download the full site’s files of the competition. We hope that many of you will take part in this session on a topic –inventing urbanity : regeneration, revitalization, colonization – that is strategic for the 62 European cities that propose attractive sites and wait for your innovative ideas and projects. Europan counts on the young urban design professionals to reveal their ideas and their talents,and on the projects’ innovative power to install urbanity in each site’s specific context.
Deadline: 29/05/2009
http://www.europan-europe.com