Thematic file

The Competitiveness of the Diplomas

Vlad THIERY

Diploma Competition
text: Vlad THIERY

The European Architectural Medals for the Best Diploma Projects (EAM BDP) competition was organized by the University of Architecture and Urbanism "Ion Mincu" (UAUIM) together with the European Association for Architectural Education (EAAE) and the European Council of Architects (ACE) over three editions (2015-2017). The aims of the competition were to promote quality standards among European schools of architecture, to raise awareness of the challenges facing future architects and the need to respond to them professionally, to debate on the topic of architectural education. The competition was initiated by Professor Emil Barbu Popescu, President of UAUIM.

The EAM BDP competition recognized the merits of the best projects entered by awarding the Best Diploma Project trophy and three prizes addressing significant issues in architectural design:
Social and Environmental Awareness - ACE Prize for Societal Impact;
Problem Solving - the EAAE Prize for Intensity and Courage in Problem Solving;
innovation and originality - the UAUIM Prize for the Artistic Quality.
The juries of the three editions also awarded a number of honorable mentions. After the judging, all participating projects were published on the competition website - eam.uauim.ro.

At the first edition of the competition in 2015, 84 Diploma in Architecture projects from 22 countries were entered - a substantial entry for a first-time competition.
The jury was composed of:

The European Architectural Medal Trophy for the Best Diploma Projects was awarded to the Alp Ark project, author Laurențiu Tiberiu Stancu from the Institute of Architecture and Urbanism, University of Liechtenstein, supervised by arch. dipl. Eth Conradin Clavuot and Dipl. Eng. Robert Mair.
The project focuses on how contemporary architecture can fit into the Alpine natural and built environment and contribute to its sustainable development. The theme is a house of traditional crafts, intended to keep alive the crafts and way of life of the Bavarian Alpine region.
The project works with a number of references to traditional Alpine way of life and buildings. These are the result of the synthesis and abstraction of a series of elements revealed by a thorough research, ranging from human activities to constructions.
The result of this research is an archetypal structural system, generator of space and architectural image. The structural module and the planimetric organization allow the construction to be carried out in stages and to obtain flexible and easily adaptable spaces for different activities.
The project involves the use of space, structure, light and materials through an innovative interpretation of traditional and archetypal elements. The building thus becomes "an ark carrying/containing the tradition of the Alpine area, a metaphor of Imago Mundi and the biblical ark".

The ACE Prize for Societal Impact was awarded to the project Lost & Found - Housing at Veterinærhøgskolen, authors Enya Aamo Aspen and Rikke Christine Nyrud from the School of Architecture and Design in Oslo, Norway. The diploma was supervised by Johanne Borthne, Vilhelm Christensen and Bente Kleven.
The project is a response to the challenges of the contemporary city: growth, heritage conservation and quality of living.

The proposal is for a series of conversions and housing on the disused site of the Oslo School of Veterinary Medicine. By developing a method of extensive mapping and close reading of the existing buildings and outdoor spaces, the site's identity is interpreted and its qualities emphasized, thus generating a new neighborhood in which history, atmosphere, materiality, structure and spatial sequences are the core values.

The EAAE Prize for Innovation (Problem Solving) was awarded to the project Entangled City: Reconciling Cultural Dissonance, authored by Eoghan Horgan and Kieran Cremin of the Center for Architectural Education in Cork, Ireland, and supervised by Jason O'Shaughnessy and Eve Olney.
Noting the dissonance between Prague's past and today's tourist industry, the authors see this not as a problem but as an opportunity for a novel intervention. Thus, the urban landscape is approached through a new layer that introduces a series of 'hybrids' derived from both contemporary sources and the distant past. The project focuses on the contextual narratives of five distinct sites: a theater, a church, a chronograph, a spyhouse and an observatory, each of which reconciles history with a determination brought by the contemporary tourist, in an attempt to achieve a symbiosis between tourists and locals.

TheUAUIM Prize for Artistic Quality was won by the diploma Projects as landscape renovation and interpretation of the past, authors Giuseppe Tupputi, Pietro Capozzi, Giuseppe Galliani, Nina Ivanovic, Maysha Mussonghora and Rosa Piepoli from Politehnica of Bari, Italy, supervisors prof. arch. Carlo Moccia, prof. arh. Paolo Perfido and prof. arh. Prof. Giacomo Martines.

The authors consider the island of San Nicola in Tremiti as a "built nature", its architecture blending perfectly into the landscape. The proposed interventions concern two parts of the island. The first project focuses on the development of the village on the plateau and the relationship between its structure and topography, while the second intervention deals with the abbey complex, a real 'island within the island'. A loggia is proposed in relation to the interior space of the cloister and to the outside landscape, a valuable element living from this double connection.

Michael Lewis

In the 2016 edition, 120 diploma projects from 29 countries were entered.
The jury was composed of:

The European Architectural Medal for the Best Diploma Projects was awarded to the project [Re]-Constructing Porto: The Massarellos School of Construction, by Michael Lewis from the University of Bath, UK, supervised by Alex Wright and Anne Claxton.
Based on the realization that Porto's built fabric is in an advanced state of decay, the project proposes to set up a comprehensive learning environment in the field of building rehabilitation. Thus, the Massarellos School of Construction will bring together education, academic research as well as start-up initiatives, in an enterprise that crosses the boundary between academic training and entrepreneurial reality, a "holistic hub of construction knowledge", as the authors call it.

The proposed building takes the volumetric typology of the warehouses in the area in which it is located and combines traditional and modern construction techniques. The ground floor, which opens through a portico that reactivates the waterfront and facilitates public interaction with the school's activities, contains the semi-public spaces (cafeteria, conference room) as well as workshops and laboratories. The first floor, made of wood and metal, houses workspaces for start-up initiatives. The project connects the different levels of the city via a walkway and an elevator tower - a landmark for the ensemble.

TheACE Prize for Societal Impact was won by the diploma BERLIN PALIMPSEST - Repurposing Urban Fragments for Community Agency, by Rachel Tan from the Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow School of Art, UK, mentored by Robert Mantho.
Berlin is seen as a palimpsest, with the legacy of its past present in the urban and social texture of the city. The research, part of the city's target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, is an urban strategy developed by investigating urban biotopes, in this case the city's network of disused ice factories.
Architecture becomes a community catalyst, a tool for transforming the physical environment and social interaction by reactivating the front towards the river Spree and enhancing the existing built heritage as a tool for transformation, a 'living legacy' for the benefit of the city's inhabitants.

EAAE Prize for Innovation (Problem Solving) was awarded to the project A Symbiotic Relation of Cooperative Social Housing and Dispersed Tourism in Havana Vieja. Development model and architectural prototypes, author Iwo Borkowicz from the Faculty of Architecture - KU Leuven, Belgium, supervisor Kris Scheerlink.

The project offers a solution to Havana's housing shortage and future tourism development by providing a sustainable model for the city and its inhabitants.

The proposal develops a typology of social housing and tourist accommodation that will generate a financially and spatially sustainable algorithm within the existing urban framework. Thus, a viable tool is developed that can manage the social and urban impacts of mass tourism.

The UAUIM Prize for Artistic Quality was awarded to the project Chandigarh: Stone, Steel, Timber. Kindergarden in a Natural Environment, author Alejandro Martínez del Río from the Higher Technical School of Architecture, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain, supervisors Jorge Torres Cueco, Clara Mejia Vallejo and Salvador Sanchis Gisbert.
The project is an approach that carefully resolves, both for the constructive details and ergonomic aspects, the architectural program (a kindergarten), the setting in the landscape and the adaptation of the building to the climatic conditions of the Monsonzo area. The resolution of the architectural program in a system of pavilions linked by a bridge that forms the main axis of the composition gives rise to outdoor spaces that communicate with the park and allow a symbiosis between the built and natural environment, illustrated with great sensitivity in the design.
The project is resolved in detail, the parts explaining the construction system, the ventilation of the spaces and rainwater collection or the elements of comfort and safety for users are given a significant weight and are an example of innovative design.

In the 2017 edition, 156 architectural diploma projects from 29 countries were entered.
The jury was composed of:

Andreas Prokopiou

The European Architectural Medal for the Best Diploma Projects was awarded to the project Negotiating the edge, by Andreas Prokopiou from the University of Nicosia, Department of Architecture, Cyprus, supervisors Maria Hadjisoteriou, Angela Petrou, Yiorgos Hadjichristou and Markella Menikou.
The project aims to manage the security zone dividing the city of Nicosia following the 1974 inter-ethnic conflict. Based on an investigation of the relationship between the edges of the area and the urban environment, the project aims to generate a system designed to meet the needs of the city in any possible future scenarios. Thus, the system can function as a strict border or as a permeable boundary, depending on future needs. This concept is translated into the architectural design through a series of structures that can expand or contract the boundaries of the security zone, in a continuous negotiation between the city's inhabitants and the United Nations authority.
The ACE Prize for Societal Impact was awarded to the Node project, by Jonas Albæk Christensen from the Faculty of Architecture and Design, NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway, supervisors Siri Bakken and Gro Rødne.

Taking into account the increased demand for public transport in Oslo and the municipality's intention to extend the metro network with a new section in the city centre, the project proposes to build a transport hub linking the new metro station in Olaf Ryes Plass with the nearby tram line.
The project integrates into the existing built environment, and ensures the functionality and fluidity of the spaces as well as access to the neighborhoods. Last but not least, it creates a landmark through an expressive and unifying image, present both at street level and at the underground station.

TheEAAE Prize for Innovation (Problem Solving) was won by the diploma Biological Research Platform_Bicaz Lake, author Andreea Irimia from the University of Architecture and Urbanism "Ion Mincu" Bucharest, supervisor arh. Octavian Neculai.

The project proposes the reconfiguration of the research station at Lake Bicaz and its transformation into a complex program, which aims both at scientific research of the natural environment and the development of educational and leisure activities for the general public, to raise awareness of environmental problems and possible solutions.
The research base will be a floating construction in order to have as little impact as possible on the site. On the opposite bank will be realized, in the same system, the structure that will accommodate tourists. The silhouette of the proposed volumes is neutral in order to achieve a good integration into the landscape, but proves its complexity through the detailed solutions.

The UAUIM Prize for Artistic Quality was awarded to the project Sizigia, by Irene Campo from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain, supervisor Carlos García Fernández.
The project looks with fascination at the transformations that the tides cause in the Pontevedra estuary. They become the basis on which an architecture is built in dialog with water, atmosphere and time. Mirroring this context, the project proposes a public space in the middle of the estuary. The part below the maximum tidal level is made of concrete walls, which form a series of basins that retain water. The constructions above the maximum tidal level are made of wood. The three proposed water towers interweave the composition and serve as vertical dominants and landmarks in the seascape while allowing a new perspective on the ensemble and the landscape through the public viewing platforms. Architecture, an unprecedented presence in this marine environment, becomes a (poetic) tool for directly observing it, creating new, unexpected perceptions.

Organizing team:

SUMMARY OF THE MAGAZINE ARHITECTURA, NR.5-6/ 2019
COMPETITION COMPETITION