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BEAZLEY DESIGNS OF THE YEAR October 18, 2017 - January 28, 2018

text: Maria MĂNESCU, photo: Adrià Goula

caption><img src= Hosted by the Design Museum, London, this annual award-winning ^exhibition1 now in its 10th year, showcases around 70 projects that promote diversity, creativity, innovation in architecture and design. Divided into six categories - Architecture, Digital Design, Fashion Design, Graphic Design, Product Design and Transportation Design - the exhibits are varied: video, virtual reality, audio and a particularly wide range of objects.
This year, two strong themes were present across all categories, activism and protest: for example, the original project entitled Pussyhat, symbolizing women's solidarity in protest against President Donald Trump's sexist remarks, or the Refugee Nation Flag, created to represent stateless athletes at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Virtual reality was one of the most compelling themes of the edition, culminating with the Forensic Architecture project, which realized an experiment anchored in one of the harshest contemporary realities: a virtual reconstruction of the reality faced by prisoners in a Syrian prison.
Nominated by a jury that brought together a panel of international experts, professors, critics, designers, architects, the selected projects were praised for the way their contribution to design captures the spirit of the times.
The jury is composed of: Amanda Levete, RIBA Stirling RIBA Stirling Prize winner, founder and director of the internationally recognized architecture and design firm AL_A; David Rowan, design and architecture publicist, founder and editor-in-chief of WIRED UK; Gerry McGovern, senior designer at Land Rover and board member of Jaguar Land Rover; Marcus Engman, Design Manager at IKEA Range and Supply; Margaret Calvert, head of graphic design, best known for her work with Kinneir on the British road signage system officially launched in 1965; Ozwald Boateng, internationally renowned fashion designer, founder of Ozwald Boateng's brand - "Bespoke Couture Ltd"; Michael Tchao, Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing for iPad, leads the group responsible for product planning, strategy and communications for Apple's iPad product line.
The exhibition was open to the public from October 18 to January 28, 2018. Judging of the awards took place in early December 2017, with the winners for each section to be announced on January 25, 2018.

©Adrià Goula

Among the projects nominated in the Architecture section - alongside other internationally recognized projects such as the Fondaco dei Tedeschi in Venice (OMA) and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C. (Adjaye Associates) - the Flores & Prats Architects, the Sala Beckett Theatre and International Drama Centre, the subject of laudatory reviews in today's most prestigious architecture magazines, impresses with an approach that tends to dethrone, discreetly but persistently, "star architecture" and "star architects"², a trend that other recently recognized architects such as RCR Arquitectes - Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem, Ramon Vilalta (2017 Pritzker Prize), Lacaton & Vassal or Kengo Kuma - are also part of. An approach in which respect for history and nature prevail, in which the architect remains in the shadow of the object he creates, which Carme Pigem masterfully expresses in her speech on the occasion of her acceptance of the 2017 Pritzker Prize, delivered in May at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo.
"For us, architecture is the art of materializing dreams after a long journey. And on this journey, we experience an architecture that contains the entire universe - as the universe is contained in the most delicate sheet of paper. [...]
We have to admit that it is not easy, but our determination is to arouse emotions in the people who inhabit the spaces we create. So that they become aware of their experience, understand the true nature of things and overcome prejudices, so that they can reach new and unexpected results that make their lives more beautiful."³

caption><img src= Sala Beckett is a cultural space designed by Flores & Prats Architects, inaugurated in November 2016 in Poblenou, in the Sant Marti district of Barcelona. Architects Ricardo Flores and Eva Prats have restored the old building of the 1920s Peace and Justice (Pau i Justicia) cooperative, adapting it to new uses related to theatrical activity. The space is characterized by an exceptional dynamism and a surprisingly open relationship with history that seems to redefine the theme of architectural restoration.
The project evokes dense memories, deeply rooted in the culture of the historic industrial district of Sant Marti, already marked by important changes in the urban fabric generated by the 1992 Olympic Games and now revitalized by the presence of artists and creative industries.
"The dilapidated state in which we found the building was quite interesting, not just because we intended to restore it, but because we wanted to use the ruin to prolong its life, to make it evolve, to make it evolve, to participate, through its unfinished character, marked by the stratification of time, in a new reality that would continue to update itself on the same foundation. [...] The challenge of the project was, in fact, to adapt the building to its new use without giving up its ghosts" - say architects Ricardo Flores and Eva ^Prats4.
Their design makes use of the spatial and decorative qualities of the existing building. Every significant element has been carefully designed and exploited, from the door frames to the polychromatic mosaic, the original color of the woodwork, the successive layers of masonry and stucco ornaments. The design process also included a thorough study of the characteristics of the existing built environment, identified and developed through detailed study drawings and models.
"The new Beckett Hall is a space where audience members enter and breathe, understand and feel that they are not customers of an industrial product, but part of a dialog, people who fully understand what is happening on stage" - says Toni Casares, playwright and director of the Beckett Hall.
In addition to being nominated for Beazley Designs of the Year 2017, the project has also been noticed in recent months by architecture critics, and was recently included in the first issue of Archives, a monographic magazine on architecture, photography, design and contemporary art edited by Carlos Quintans and Juan Rodriguez.
Flores & Prats Architects is a Barcelona-based architectural practice that seeks to combine academic practice and theory with design and construction work.
After their experience at the office of Enric Miralles, Ricardo Flores and Eva Prats developed an independent career. The office carried out rehabilitation works of old structures for functional conversions, promoted public participation in the design process of urban public spaces and social housing. As a step forward in getting closer to the general public, for their exhibitions in Barcelona and Copenhagen they experimented with the use of film to document architecture, with user-friendly menus.
Their work has been widely awarded, published and exhibited. They were included in the Wallpaper Directory of Emerging Offices in 2007, won the Grand Award for the Best Work in Architecture at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 2009 for the Mills Museum rehabilitation project in Palma de Mallorca and the International Award Dedalo Minosse of Vicenza 2011 for the new Microsoft campus in Milan. Their project for the rehabilitation of the Cultural Centre Casal Balaguer, exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2014 and 2016, was nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award 2015 and shortlisted for the FAD Award of Architecture in 2016.
Sala Beckett - Obrador Internacional de Dramaturgia (Poblenou, Barcelona) is a project initiated in 2011 and completed in 2016, recently recognized by the City of Barcelona and Living - Spaces Simon Architecture awards. It was shortlisted in the Beazley Design of the Year, ENOR Awards, FAD Architecture Prize and EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award 2017.
Ricardo and Eva are full professors at the School of Architecture of Barcelona and visiting professors at several universities around the world(www.floresprats.com).

BEAZLEY DESIGNS OF THE YEAR October 18, 2017 - January 28, 2018

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