Winners
of Civic Buildings WAN AWARDS 2010 revealed
The quality of entries for this year’s Civic Buildings category was so
high that even the longlists of 25 had to be expanded to 32 to
accommodate judges’ requests. This set the pace for the awards and the
competition was so hot that even at the 11th hour, a request for three
joint winners was tabled in the un-built category. The stalemate was
finally resolved with two joint winners and a one highly commended.
As such, it gives us great pleasure to announce that the winners of the
Civic Buildings Unbuilt category are Hariri Pontarini Architects’ Baha'i
Temple for South America and Samoo’s New York Korea Center in NYC,
whilst the award for the best Completed Civic Building goes to Robert
Simeoni Pty Ltd Architects for Seaford Life Saving Club in Melbourne.
Many congratulations to all!
Common themes were thrown up by both jury panels during their animated
debates, where the relationship between architectural design and
building function was matched in importance by the integration of the
structure into the urban realm – as Kate Goodwin explains in the video
clip below – a feature that is clearly encapsulated by our three of
winners. Effectiveness was also mentioned on numerous occasions, with
the majority of shortlisted projects noted as having a positive emotive
or passive effect on both the user and the passer-by.
The sheer variety of our entries always comes under scrutiny from jurors
and this year, Aedas Director Sarah Williams was the first to remark
that the “variety of projects submitted for the Civic Building Awards
highlighted the different cultural approaches from around the world and
the impact this can have on the local architecture. The winning schemes
whilst very different both exhibited sensitivity to their site and
clearly expressed their intent.” This feeling was echoed by Completed
juror Keith Williams, who disclosed that “some buildings were very well
known to the judges...others unknown and a complete surprise. The
diversity of scales and budgets made the Civic Buildings Award judging
such a pleasure.”
Whilst debate raged between the Unbuilt jurors as to which of the
shortlisted entries should be cast out of the running, for their
Completed counterparts there was one clear winner. Project Director at
EllisWilliams and UIA representative, Lester Korzilius explained “the
Seaford Life Saving Club was the project that collectively scored the
highest among all the aspects that the jury considered. The
programme/brief is well resolved and clearly expressed in an uplifting
manner through a series of internal and external spaces that are
intimately tied to the site.” In a world where economic problems are
still at the forefront of everyone’s minds, it is refreshing that a
project on a modest budget topped tens of lavish and grander schemes,
demonstrating that "buildings with the largest budgets and the most
ambitious programmes do not necessarily win out."
Hariri Pontarini Architects’ Baha'i Temple
for South
America
Samoo’s New York Korea Center in NYC
Seaford Life Saving Club in
Melbourne
Source: WAN
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