The 2012 Graduate Architecture Projects

Congratulations to the winners of the Graduate Architecture Award 2012. First and foremost we want to congratulate all participants of this year's competition. This year we have received a great amount of truly amazing projects, which like always makes it extremely difficult to decide on a winner. For this year we have added the four previous winners to join our jury to decide on the winning projects. Introducing our 4 guest jurors:

stavrosz.4ormat.com

With a year already having swiftly gone by since winning the graduate architecture award, I am happy to say many things have changed as I have further progressed with my architectural career. The graduate architecture awards offered an encouraging platform from which to show my work to a wider audience and I have since gone on to win international recognition for the University of Bath and myself championing sustainable design. I now live in London and am currently working at Squire and Partners Architects, one of the leading UK practices with a substantial body of work. I have since been involved in an exciting variety of projects and competitions both in London as well as abroad. In addition I have been continuing my ongoing research and discussions with various environmentally conscious forums as well as a collection of Cypriot urban design forums.

The Selection

1st Place: Temporary Housing System for Lavapies, Madrid by Isabel Gutierrez Sanchez

2nd Place: Urban Strategies to Regenerate Indian Public Space by Almudena Cano Pineiro

3rd Place: Mediating Fineness by Richard Andersen

Reasons for my selection: Firstly I would like to congratulate all the graduates who took part, I realise the great effort put into producing all this work and beautifully presenting it for the competition. My reasons for selecting the first project, A Temporary Housing System for Lavapies, Madrid by Isabel Gutierrez Sanchez, stems from a piece of advice given to me by one of my first tutors. 'To be an architect is to be human' – Quintus Miller. I often use this phrase to remind myself that architecture is a vehicle for making our lives better and how as architects we should carefully observe our environment and the lives of others to inform design. Isabel's project shows rigour in all aspects: a methodical analysis of the current urban situation, a breakdown of priorities, an inventive collection of complimentary components, a considerate humanist nature culminating in a very well executed and playful synthesis. At a close second, Urban Strategies to Regenerate Indian Public Space by Almudena Cano Pineiro, sets out in the same rigour to rethink Indian public space. With a lovely essay on diverse construction techniques, the fantastic simplicity and realism of the solutions proposed surprised me. Look with so little we can achieve so much! Thirdly I felt that Mediating Fineness by Richard Andersen, engaged with me radiating a strong sense of atmosphere reminding us that architecture is whimsical and poetic as well as functional.

 Stavros Zachariades - stavrosz.4ormat.com

feliciaguldberg.wix.com/portfolio

Since I graduated 2011 from the School of Architecture, Lund University, Sweden with my project 'Alice as Architecture', that was later awarded in the Graduate Architecture Competition, my life has taken major changes. I've been working at Foster + Partners, London since January this year. Working in such a well-established firm gives me the opportunity to be part of an international work environment with amazing tools and resources to use when being challenged with various high profile architectural projects all over the world. I would encourage other young architects to work in a foreign country as I feel that the cultural and pedagogical differences I have experienced during my time in London have broadened my design thinking.

The Selection

1st Place: 'Icebergs trading post in a melting Greenland' by Alexandre Braleret

2nd Place: ' Long Collective House: a new type of open urban residence' by Yongming Chen, Yanming Cheng and Zhen Li

3rd Place: 'Network of Point Interventions at Larnaca Salt Lakes (CYPRUS)' by Michalis Piroccas

My first choice in this year's competition is the project 'Icebergs trading post in a melting Greenland' by Alexandre Braleret as it generated new thoughts and ideas within my own thinking. Another favorite, is the project ' Long Collective House: a new type of open urban residence', by Yongming Chen, Yanming Cheng and Zhen Li, which successfully manages to combine analytical historical research and representational physical models. I also very much enjoyed the 'Network of Point Interventions at Larnaca Salt Lakes (CYPRUS)' by Michalis Piroccas, which creates a coexistance between humans and nature through a sensitive architectural approach.

Felicia Guldberg, Architect ARB MSA - feliciaguldberg.wix.com/portfolio

Third 2011 GA Prize that I was delighted to receive had a great impact on all architecture-related decisions I have made since then. It was a starting point for many more competition entries (in Spain, Italy and Switzerland) that I have worked on with my university friend. It turned out to be a truly creative way of developing our more abstract ideas and receiving valuable feedbacks which constantly enrich our understanding of a complex human+space relation. Chapter 2 began for me with far more realistic, office-based professional work experience. I started gaining it in a small architects practice in London but in January 2012 I moved to Zürich hoping to find 'architecture that is simultaneously delicate and powerful, precise and fluid...' This temporary replacement of my initial idea to work in Japan turned out to be one of the most inspiring decisions I have ever made. Currently, I am working in a middle-size architects practice in Zürich - an environment filled with creativity, freedom to investigate my own ideas and a great dose of support from the architects. As I am still able to combine work with short but frequent travels and my own art+architecture related research - I consider it my 'dream-formula' that I hope to continue until September 2013 when I am planning to start Masters studies. Ideally at a University somewhere in Scandinavia.

The Selection

1st Place: NETWORK OF POINT INTERVENTIONS at Larnaca Salt Lakes by Michalis Piroccas - Beautifully translates words such as: abstract, delicate, balanced and real into architectural language of lines and images. it's a creative invitation for a magical journey through the Salt Lakes in Cyprus where every step proves that architecture and nature not only could but actually still should co-exist and enrich each other. no domination needed. Balance still is the key.

2nd Place: PROJECT D24 in Athens by Adamantios Tegkelidis - The spirit of the city can be sensed while looking at Project D24. An abstract idea has been given a truly realistic approach. Great detailed models!

3rd Place: MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART in Poznan by Pawel Urbanowski - Very realistic, 'proper' design but nicely presented!

Kinga Rusin

Behance.com/akispattihis

We have invited Akis Pattihis for the second consecutive year to be part of our jury. We are very pleased to have such a talented young architect as part of our jury and would like to thank him for taking the time and effort to review a long list of incredible projects and come up with a well though decision. Akis has been a great contribution to the competition as a jury member for the second time. Please take the time to visit the excellent work of Akis Pattihis at Behance.com/akispattihis, where you will find his stunning art and architectural work.

The Selection

First of all, congratulations to all 25 finalist. The standard of work this year is very high.

1st Place: "Urban Strategies to Regenerate Public Space" by Almudena Cano Pineiro.

2nd Place: "Network of Point Interventions at Larnaca's Salt Lakes" by Michalis Piroccas.

3rd Place: Borderline - Mediated landscape by Jurie Johannes Swart

I have decided to give my top vote to "Urban Strategies to Regenerate Public Space" for an number of reasons.
It has been beautifully presented, although the style may seem simplified and diagrammatic the work is far from it.
Zoom in and you can see the level of detail and consideration Almudena has included.
Each image tells a story which I feel is crucial to explaining her overriding brief; to introduce new ways of living into a traditional social backdrop whilst promoting local skills, knowledge and resources.
It is a very playful project that challenges very real problems. It emphasises the need for a much more sensitive/respectful approach to urban regeneration, sustainability and social interaction.

 Akis Pattihis, AA Dipl Arch, RIBA Part2 - Behance.com/AkisPattihis