The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the shortlist of six finalist projects in the running for the inaugural RIBA International Prize. The first RIBA Award open to any qualified architect in the world, the International Prize seeks to name the world’s “most significant and inspirational” building. Criteria for consideration include the demonstration of “visionary, innovative thinking and excellence of execution, whilst making a distinct contribution to its users and to its physical context.”

The six finalists were named from a longlist of 30 buildings, from which a further selection of 21 projects have been recognized by the jury for the RIBA Award for International Excellence. The jury has also named the winner of the RIBA International Emerging Architect prize recognizing “the achievement of architects in the earlier stages of their career who are working on global projects.”

The Grand Jury is lead by Richard Rogers and includes Billie Tsien, Kunlé Adeyemi, Philip Gumuchdjian, and Marilyn Jordan Taylor.

“Our panel of jurors have been particularly impressed by the way in which each building reacts to, resolves and assimilates into the varying geographies and contexts – from dense urban cities to a small town in the Arctic Circle,” said RIBA President Jane Duncan on the naming of the finalists. “Each project resolves the complex demands of its context with ingenuity, exceptional detail and finishing and a sensitivity to the needs of the users and communities which will inhabit these spaces.”

Finalists 

Arquipelago Contemporary Arts Centre, Ribeira Grande, The Azores / Menos é Mais Arquitectos Associados and João Mendes Ribeiro Arquitecto

Arquipelago Contemporary Arts Centre, Ribeira Grande, The Azores, by Menos é Mais Arquitectos Associados and João Mendes Ribeiro Arquitecto. Image © Jose Campos

Arquipelago Contemporary Arts Centre (Menos é Mais) is located in The Azores, an archipelago of nine small islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Restoring the site of an 1890s sweet potato distillery, the building expertly combines restoration, reconstruction and new build, drawing on the history of the building and its distinctive black Basalt exterior to create a restrained, industrial character. Constructed over the course of three years, the process revealed a complex of cloisters and cells in the basement of the old distillery, which have been transformed to display artwork – an ancient backdrop for very contemporary use. The building has become a beacon for progress both locally and internationally, and has made a substantial impact on the local community – showing respect for its past and ambition for the future.

Heydar Aliyev Centre Baku, Azerbaijan / Zaha Hadid Architects and DiA Holding

Heydar Aliyev Centre Baku, Azerbaijan, by Zaha Hadid Architects and DiA Holding. Image © Hufton + Crow

Designed to celebrate Azerbaijan’s independence and first president Heydar Aliyev, Zaha Hadid Architects’, Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku was completed in 2013 and offers a vibrant programme of arts, music and performance to audiences in the vaulted spaces and distinctive wave-like form that dominates the eastern aspect of the city. The building represents a break from tradition – not least in the post-Soviet landscape of Baku, and now welcomes over 1000 visitors a day as both a public social space and a cultural nucleus for the city.

The complex landscape has been brought together into a single, fluid composition which appears out of the hill. The building is distinctive not only for its scale and undulating form, but for its use of white cladding and paving, a marked departure from the traditional architecture and aesthetic of the city. The heart of the building is found in its sophisticated and welcoming central auditorium; a warm performance space whose innovative use of oak to line and sculpt the interior showcases a sophistication in both vision and joinery.

Museo Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico / David Chipperfield Architects and Taller Abierto de Arquitectura y Urbanismo

Museo Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico, by David Chipperfield Architects and Taller Abierto de Arquitectura y Urbanismo. Image © Simon Menges

A structure that celebrates the industrial heritage of its site context in Mexico City, David Chipperfield Architects, Museo Jumex is home to the largest private collection of Latin American contemporary art in the world. Centrally located in a bustling and overcrowded city, the building offers a contemplative space in which visitors can escape the rush of the city.

A large public space is divided across three spacious levels; a glazed Piano Nobile gallery and a flexible secondary space punctuated by a single large window flooding the space with light. The top floor opens out to present the museum’s collection under a soft diffused daylight through original factory roof lights. The quality of light distinctive to Chipperfield’s practice defines the space, as does the consistent sense of quality in the materials and subtle detailing that separate public from work space. A characteristic dialogue of travertine and timber marks the Museo Jumex as a remarkable building.

Stormen Concert Hall, Theatre and Public Library, Bodø, Norway / DRDH Architects

Stormen Concert Hall, Theatre and Public Library, Bodø, Norway, by DRDH Architects. Image © David Grandorge

Stormen Concert Hall and Library has created a new community focus for a small town, with two new civic buildings in Bodø, 100km inside the Arctic Circle. DRDH’s first major building commission, the scheme is expertly stitched into the existing urban fabric, playing off the link to the town centre as well as the nearby harbour and the luminous experience of the Arctic sunshine. With rigorous attention to detail, material and the user’s experience of both the space of the library building and new concert hall spaces, the architect’s design is matched with technical ambition. The concert hall houses three music venues within its structure, and is considered comparable to the New York’s Carnegie Hall as one of the best in the world for symphonic music.

The Ring of Remembrance, International WWI Memorial of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, Ablain-Saint-Nazaire, France / Agence d’Architecture Philippe Prost

The Ring of Remembrance, International WWI Memorial of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, Ablain-Saint-Nazaire, France, by Agence d'Architecture Philippe Prost. Image © Aitor Ortiz

The Ring of Remembrance memorial in Notre-Dame-de-Lorette near Arras commemorates the thousands who died in the region during World War I. The unification of former enemies is the strong idea that underlines AAPP’s design scheme of the ring, inscribing all 600,000 names irrespective of their nationality, creed or rank. Located on the Hill of Lorette the location has long views over the battlefields of the plain of Artois, the piece sits lightly in the landscape, rooted at one end but cantilevers out precariously as the landscape falls away, and representing the fragility of peace.

UTEC Universidad de Ingenieria y Tecnologia, Peru / Lima Grafton Architects and Shell Arquitectos

UTEC Universidad de Ingenieria y Tecnologia, Peru, by Lima Grafton Architects and Shell Arquitectos. Image © Iwan Baan

The UTEC in Lima is a new faculty for a 50 year old engineering university to enable young Peruvians to gain engineering qualifications and to encourage social mobility. This powerful statement of a building symbolises a bold and positive future for Peru, and draws on the temperate climate of the city and cultural environment. Grafton Architects have created an innovative solution to the architectural program in the design of a vertical concrete campus, with open ended spaces of circulation interlinked with a series of suspended platforms that flow in between the structural frame, offering a balance between enclosed spaces and permeability to the exterior.

RIBA Award for International Excellence

Selected from the award longlist, these 21 projects have been selected as a testament to the high quality of nominated projects:

• Angdong Hospital, Baojing County, China / Rural Urban Framework
• Arquipelago Contemporary Arts Centre, Ribeira Grande, The Azores / Menos é Mais Arquitectos Associados and João Mendes Ribeiro Arquitecto
• Buenos Aires Ciudad Casa de Gobierno, Buenos Aires, Argentina / Foster + Partners, Berdichevsky Cherny Arquitectos and StudioMinond
• DLR Lexicon Dún Laoghaire Co, Dublin, Ireland / Carr Cotter Naessens
• Europaallee Baufeld E, Zurich, Switzerland / Caruso St John Architects and Bosshard Vaquer Architekten
• European Hansemuseum Lübeck, Germany / Studio Andreas Heller Architects & Designers
• Fine Arts Museum of Asturias, Oviedo, Spain / Mangado y Asociados
• Fulton Center New York, USA / Grimshaw, HDR and Page Ayres Cowley Architects
• Heydar Aliyev Centre Baku, Azerbaijan / Zaha Hadid Architects and DiA Holding
• Invisible House, Hampton, Australia / Peter Stutchbury Architecture
• Jockey Club Innovation Tower, Hung Hom, Hong Kong / Zaha Hadid Architects
• Museo Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico / David Chipperfield Architects and Taller Abierto de Arquitectura y Urbanismo
• Oita Prefectural Art Museum, Oita, Japan / Shigeru Ban Architects
• Public Library of Constitucion, Constitución, Chile / Sebastian Irarrazaval Arquitectos
• Saint Louis Art Museum, St Louis, USA / David Chipperfield Architects and HOK
• SkyTerrace Soo Khian Chan, Singapore / SCDA Architects
• St Angela’s College, Cork, Ireland / O’Donnell + Tuomey
• Stormen Concert Hall, Theatre and Public Library, Bodø, Norway / DRDH Architects
• The Ring of Remembrance, International WWI Memorial of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, Ablain-Saint-Nazaire, France / Agence d’Architecture Philippe Prost
• Tula House Heriot Bay, Quadra Island, Canada / Patkau Architects
• UTEC Universidad de Ingenieria y Tecnologia, Peru / Lima Grafton Architects and Shell Arquitectos

In addition, Rural Urban Framework has been named as the RIBA International Emerging Architect for their ambitious plan for Angdong Hospital in Baojing County, China.

The buildings will now be visited by the Grand Jury to evaluate their candidacy. The winner will be announced on Thursday 24 November 2016. 

News via RIBA.

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© Charly Broyez

• Architects: SAM Architecture
• Location: 31 Avenue de Paris, 78000 Versailles, France
• Architect In Charge: Boris Schneider, Guillaume Picard, Aurélien Clovis

• Area: 1528.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Charly Broyez

• Structure And Hbac: Mizrahi
• Industrial Kitchen Design Office: Process Cuisine
• Construction Firms: SNRB (general contractor)
• Métalobil : carpentry
• Ragueneau: kitchen equipment
• Illico : modular construction

© Charly Broyez

La Bruyère high school is composed of four buildings erected at different times. The school canteen was achieved in 1980 as an extension of the historical building constructed at the end of the nineteenth century. As the high school is built on a steep slope site, the canteen is half buried and enlightened only by zenithal openings. 

© Charly Broyez

The purpose of the operation is the kitchen’s upgrading, the creation of a second line of distribution to respond to an increase of requests and the refurbishment of the teachers and students’ refectory. The school restaurant takes place in a 70m long, 14m wide and 6m high volume divided into three parts : the kitchen East, the refectory West and in the center the distribution line, the laundry and access to garden by the roof terrace. 

Plan

The main asset of the project is the realization of a mezzanine at the center of the volume: first it allows spreading the flows coming from the roof of the refectory on both lines of distribution and avoiding crossing flows out of the restaurant, while ensuring continuity between the kitchen and the canteen for the staff. Afterwards, the mezzanine provides an additional relaxing and meeting space, offering a stunning view on the refectory throughout large windows. 

© Charly Broyez

The project stands out for the implementation of two wooden parts, in birch precisely, defining the atmosphere and different spaces: on one hand, the balloon frame false ceiling that connects the refectory with the mezzanine and on another hand, the alcove which forms the teachers’ dining hall. 

© Charly Broyez

These two elements aim to qualify each space in a different way while providing a reading of the existing volume the widest and most generous way possible. This is why, the teachers’ dining room was designed as a cocoon within the students’ refectory, a cocoon formed by a two meter high furniture both visual barrier and seat. Meanwhile, the false ceiling is lowered as if it was drawn above the alcove, providing more privacy to this space and improving the acoustic features. 

Section

The game between the two components, ceiling and alcove, offers an alternative to the traditional partitioning by proposing a richer and more subtle relationship between the two refectories, redefining thereby the concepts of intimacy and communication. 

© Charly Broyez

The expression of raw materials – colorless varnished wood, polished concrete floor et galvanized railings, the care giver to their implementation as well as the visibility of the structure and of the technical bodies express the particular attention to the raw material, the one that was already there, the one used to build and which is too often hidden from public view. The ceiling is like a veil that shows what is going on behind the scenes.

Detail

Product Description. The principal material of this project is the birch plywood, used for the false ceiling and the alcove of the teacher’s refectory. The digital die-cutting of the birch plywood panels made it possible to achieve in an economic way the complex geometry of these two elements. 

© Charly Broyez

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via Apple Special Event Streaming. October 27, 2016.

Apple has unveiled a new version of their professional-level portable computer, the MacBook Pro, making steps towards defining the laptop as a tool for those in the creative industries. With a full 500 days since these devices were last refreshed by the company, the standout feature of this latest incarnation is a new, application-specific Touch Bar – a touch-sensitive display band at the top of the keyboard which becomes an “intuitive” part of the user interface, which also includes a Touch ID fingerprint sensor. Oh – and there’s still a headphone jack!

via Apple Special Event Streaming. October 27, 2016.

The laptop’s display is now 67% brighter than its predecessor, with a 67% higher contrast ratio and 25% more visible colors. The computer is also 130% faster in rendering 3D graphics, and is able to be connected to multiple 5K displays making the device ideal for CAD, modeling, and high-quality video editing. But perhaps the most useful update for architects is the touchbar’s integration with many designer’s favorite tool: Adobe Photoshop.

via Apple Special Event Streaming. October 27, 2016.

Adobe Photoshop and the new MacBook Pro

The display and interactivity of the new Touch Bar adjusts to display only the controls needed for a particular task, such as using the Brush or Mask tools – and even provides a unique way to pick colors. You can also use it for simple tasks, such as resizing photos; “it’s a two-hand way of working. Hands and eyes work in concert,” a representative from Adobe said. According to Adobe, this new version of Photoshop will be in the hands of customers before the end of the year.

via Apple Special Event Streaming. October 27, 2016.

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© Federico Cairoli

• Architects: TDA

• Location: Lambare, Paraguay
• Project Architects: Miguel Duarte, Larissa Rojas
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Federico Cairoli

• Collaborators: Magali Ibarrola, Luis Landivar, Miguel Duarte (p), Enrique Granada

© Federico Cairoli

An elderly mother decides to build two compact houses along with her daughter, upon her own recent state of widowhood, giving up the large-sized house in which the family used to live.

Site Plan

This project reflects on compactness. (This can be defined as the ratio between the usable space of buildings and the space occupied by the surface).

© Federico Cairoli

Typically the amount of square meters guarantees social position, the more square meters we built, the more socially accepted we were, she commented.

Plan 1

Plan 2

The passing of time is fast. Children migrate building new places and that home becomes a museum, dark and silent.

© Federico Cairoli

Fearing abandonment and especially oblivion, this proposal restates coexistence based on practicality but especially constituting a new concept of compact use of space.

© Federico Cairoli

Based on functional requirements and especially the qualification of space rather than quantifying square meters.

© Federico Cairoli

We define a load bearing structure in reinforced concrete (efficiency and low maintenance cost, as requested by the future user) that optimizes the occupation giving emphasis to the void.

An upper beam 25 meters long. 2 columns located in a 1 to 5 relation. A side wall.

© Federico Cairoli

This basic and combined structure builds 3 habitable blocks and 2 intermediate courtyards. Two overlapping houses 4 meters wide and 25 meters deep in a 12×30 meter plot.

The front block is suspended 7 meters, generating the garages on the ground floor. The central block (fully suspended) houses living room and kitchen. The rear block houses the suite of the mother, also catilevered. Upstairs the daughter’s dwelling, with 3 bedrooms en suite and private living room.

© Federico Cairoli

All the blocks have intermediate light and ventilation courtyards. A house that occupies a minimum area of land, giving the possibility to enjoy the garden. The exterior image results from the interior spatial search. Structural abstraction and dignity, rich spatiality, controlled lighting and human scale.

© Federico Cairoli

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Courtesy of Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

In the latest episode of what has become a dramatic narrative worthy of its own space opera, The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has revealed plans for their two newest hopes: prospective museum designs, one in Los Angeles and one in San Francisco, that could serve as the new home of filmmaker George Lucas’ eclectic personal collection of artworks, costumes and artifacts.

After their failed proposal for a mountain-shaped museum along the Chicago Waterfront, the museum has again tapped architect Ma Yansong and his firm, MAD Architects, to design both proposals for the California sites, the first along the water on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay, and the second for a site in Exposition Park in Los Angeles, adjacent to the city’s Natural History Museum and the Coliseum.

San Francisco Proposal. Image Courtesy of Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

The two proposals feature similar specs (between 265,000 and 275,000 net square feet and 90,000 – 100,000 square feet of gallery space), and a similar fluid architectural language. As opposed to the soaring tent-like museum envisioned for Chicago, both designs are relatively low-lying and compact. Yet each reacts to its context in appropriately unique ways.

San Francisco Proposal. Image Courtesy of Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

On the Treasure Island site, the museum has been placed along the water within a larger master plan for the island designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. To combat the site’s blustery seawinds, MAD has chosen to move the majority of the public space inside, instead providing large, glazed surfaces that look out over the water and toward to San Francisco skyline.

Los Angeles Proposal. Image Courtesy of Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, the bulk of the museum would be lifted above ground level, preserving a large percentage of the ground area for a brand-new park. The vegetated outdoor areas would continue onto the building roof, adding 6 to 7 acres of green space to a site currently occupied by a surface parking lot. To accommodate for the lost parking, an 1800-vehicle garage would be constructed under the museum.

Los Angeles Proposal. Image Courtesy of Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

Both proposals have already gained the support of their respective city’s mayors, but their support doesn’t make the museum a shoe-in for public acceptance; in Chicago, despite vocal endorsement from Mayor Rahm Emanuel, museum plans were still undone by the efforts of local activist groups.

The Lucas Museum is expected to decide upon a site by early 2018, after which they will continue to refine the design for realization.

News via Los Angeles Times, SFGate, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

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