What are architectural competitions and prizes for? For example, they can promote projects that are attentive to ethical issues, and add sensitivity to aesthetics and ecology. They serve to talk about contemporary architecture that respects the past and can present projects that favor the debate both among professionals and the general public. To represent architecture in harmony between the natural environment and artificial structures.
The eighth edition of the Swiss Architectural Award is considered one of the most prestigious (and huge) architectural competitions in the world. The advisory committee is made up of internationally renowned architects and architecture critics.
The eighth edition of the Swiss Architectural Award
It was attended by many excellent candidates. The award ceremony involved the jury, chaired by architect Mario Botta, and consisting of the three deans/heads of the faculties (namely professors Walter Angonese, Dieter Dietz, and Tom Emerson). The preliminary selection of candidates for the award was made by a committee of advisors chosen by the organization. The event, which is held every two years, has been promoted since 2018 by the Fondazione Teatro dell’architettura.
The prize is awarded to architects up to the age of 50 that are considered “young professionals” without distinction of nationality, and who have carried out at least three significant works. The reward amounts to 100,000 Swiss francs. This year it will be held on May 4, 2023, in the Auditorium of the Teatro dell’architettura Mendrisio of the Italian Università della Svizzera. During the event, the exhibition of the projects of all the participants will be inaugurated.
The choice
Xu Tiantian – DnA Design and Architecture was chosen from 26 candidates from 14 countries around the world. It must be said that all the works submitted have fully met the expectations of the promoters and the jury of the event. The jury unanimously awarded the 2022 Swiss Architecture Prize to the winner. The three awarded projects concern: the reuse of the Shimen Bridge over the Songyin River (2016-2017), the tofu factory in Caizhai Village (2017-2018 ), and the reuse of Jinyun quarries (2021-2022).
The reasons
The commission wanted to highlight some of the reasons for the award: “The works submitted by Xu Tiantian, located in Songyang and Jinyun counties (a rural area of Zhejiang province, China, characterized by a landscape on the one hand preserved in its traditional structure and on the other threatened by the process of depopulation induced by the migration of young people to the urban centers of the region). She convinced the jury by the happy union between the civic instances that animate them (since they are aimed at serving local communities) and the quality of the proposed architecture, characterized by strong attention to the context, a precise and poetic attitude, and operating at the crossroads of different scales and themes: between architecture and infrastructure, between permanent and ephemeral, between reuse and intervention from scratch”.
The works presented by Xu Tiantian, located in a rural area characterized by a landscape on the one hand preserved in its traditional structure and on the other threatened by the process of depopulation induced by the migration of young people to the urban centers of the region, convinced the jury by the happy union between the civic instances that animate them (since they are aimed at serving local communities) and the quality of the architecture. proposal.
The objectives
The jury recognized in Xu Tiantian’s works the total coherence with the objectives of the Swiss Architecture Prize. The award aims to promote public debate on the role of architecture in contemporary society, especially considering the urgency of the current period of crisis.
Characterized by a strong attention to the context, by a precise and poetic attitude at the same time, and by working at the crossroads of different scales and themes, between architecture and infrastructure, between permanent and ephemeral, between reuse and ex-novo intervention.
The winner
Architect Xu Tiantian (Fujian, 1975) received her bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua University in Beijing. She earned her Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. After a professional experience in the United States and The Netherlands (at Studio OMA), she founded the studio DnA Design and Architecture in Beijing. She has won numerous national and international awards. In March 2018, the AEDES Architecture Forum in Berlin dedicated the exhibition Rural Moves – The Songyang Story to her.
Three projects in harmony
When observing the winning works, you can feel the richness and solidity of the proposals, the wisdom in the use of materials, and the great sensitivity towards the intervention sites and the landscape in general. In the case of the reuse of the Shimen Bridge, over the Songyin River, Xu Tiantian manages to combine respect for existing and new functional needs, in a skillful interconnecting design between pre-existence, architectural intervention, and landscape.
The same ability can be seen in the Jinyun quarry reuse project. The fascinating landscape where architecture acts as a counterpoint, as an element of balance, each ingredient finds its place in harmony within a unique, protagonist scenery.
A touch of tradition in the choice of materials and the quality of spaces is seen in the Tofu Factory in the village of Caizhai.
On the website www.swissarchitecturalaward.com, you can find all the information about the current edition and the previous ones.
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