AWARDS AND EXHIBITIONS

AHK Graduation Prize

The AHK Graduation Prize 2020 for the best Master project has been awarded to A FireScape, the graduation project of Hanna Prinssen (landscape architect, Academy of Architecture Amsterdam 2020). Her graduation project (see page 31) comprised a landscape design for a wooded area in California in which she used ‘fire dikes’ to create fire lanes that decelerate the flames in the event of a forest fire.

From the jury report: ‘A Fire-Scape touches on the way we humans have to deal with climate change. It brings all of the ingredients for a convincing Master project together. It investigates a complex issue in an impressive manner, it is obviously relevant and its aesthetic is particularly successful. Hanna Prinssen casts a fresh eye on a problem that will increasingly call for a solution in the coming years.’ a landscape and then get to know this landscape and all of its inhabitants. To read more about this graduation project, please turn to page 32.

The ex-aequo second prize winner was architect Lindsey van de Wetering with her graduation project for a conservatory in Suriname, Poku Oso. For her graduation project (see page 33) she designed an acoustic environment for the Cultuurtuin in Suriname in which cultural heritage in the form of music made by humans and animals is on show. The Conservatory consists of an ensemble of Surinam music buildings. These ‘music houses’ all function as a kind of instruments, like a woodwind instrument or an apinti drum. Large and small, they all belong to the same family, but also show their individual personality – defined by the type of music they make. Titei Oso, the string house, is a sound box with strings strung along its walls, which vibrate with the sound of music, rain and wind. Winti Oso, the woodwind house, is made up of funnel-shaped wind elements that contribute to the propagation of sound into the landscape.Archiprix Netherlands 2021

The 2021 edition of Archiprix Netherlands had two ex-aequo first-prize winners, both of whom graduated from the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture, and two ex-aequo second-prize winners, one of whom graduated from the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture. The other ex-aequo second-prize winner was a graduate from Delft University of Technology. The third prize was for a graduate from Delft University of Technology.

One of the two winners of the shared first prize was landscape architect Hanna Prinssen, with her graduation project A Fire-Scape, with which she also won the AHK Graduation Prize. Her graduation project (see page 31) comprised a landscape design for a wooded area in California in which she used ‘fire dikes’ to create fire lanes that decelerate the flames in the event of a forest fire.

The other winner of the shared first prize was landscape architect Ziega van den Berk, with her graduation project Het Doggersland. For her graduation project she investigated what it would mean to the Doggersbank, a shallow sandbank located in the middle of the North Sea, if the design of the wind farms planned there was approached from the perspective of the landscape and marine life. Here, the hard substrate of wind farms offers opportunities. To take these, one has to first understand the sea as KuiperCompagnons Graduation Prizes

Last December, KuiperCompagnons awarded its 2020 Graduation Prizes. Jean-François Gauthier (landscape architect, Academy of Architecture Amsterdam 2019) won first prize for the best Master project with his plan Trees First. His research takes trees and their needs as the starting point for the design of public spaces. In Brussels – the most urbanized and densely populated city in Europe, according to Gauthier – the young Frenchman explored how new typologies for public spaces can be developed using various forest habitats.

His work is an indictment of the way in which existing design processes approach the planting of trees. ‘Trees are budget balancers because we prioritize parking spaces and cables and pipes. This makes it difficult to add trees, for example because there is hardly any room left for their roots. If we put trees first, we will really be able to bring nature into the living environment of people.’

Gauthier used a grant he received from the Creative Industries Fund NL to put the lessons he learned into practice. He is currently creating an urban forest near Hollands Spoor train station in The Hague. ‘We are looking for ways to implement forest types based on wild environments, like mountains and canyons, in a densely built-up part of the city.’ He works for the office Okra, where he notices that the importance of trees is increasingly recognized. ‘Not only by my colleagues, but also by municipal management departments, for example. They see that trees only thrive if we take their needs into account first.’

To read more about Gauthier’s project and those of other prize-winners, please visit blauwekamerezine.nl/ezine-2020-7/ for a special online edition of Blauwe Kamer. Abe Bonnema Prize Best Dutch Book Designs

In January, architect Ard Hoksbergen won the Abe Bonnema Prize for Young Architects 2020 with his design for the Veerkracht primary school in Amsterdam. He received a sum of 20,000 euros.

According to the jury, the primary school in Amsterdam-Slotermeer designed by Studio Ard Hoksbergen achieves exceptional, high-grade architectural quality, inspires future generations and serves as an example. The jury is full of praise for his design. The way Ard Hoksbergen fit the school into the existing urban design is outstanding and creates a new dynamic. According to the jury, it is encouraging to see that architecture can really make a difference to a neighbourhood. ‘The fact that this young architect has been able to achieve such high quality is impressive. This was a complex commission in terms of location, budget, parties involved and resistance to overcome,’ says jury chairman Josja van der Veer.

Ard Hoksbergen (1982) studied architecture at the Academy of Architecture Amsterdam. In 2012 his design for a Carthusian monastery in Tubbergen, Twente won him the Archiprix, the annual prize for the best graduation project. He subsequently set himself up as an independent architect in Amsterdam. His work for primary school Veerkracht also earned him a nomination for School Building of the Year and the ARC20 Detail Award.

Photo Jan-Kees Steenman (seeityourself.nl) Rewriting Architecture: 10+1 Actions/Tabula Scripta, published by Valiz, designed by Haller Brun and edited by Floris Alkemade, Jarrik Ouburg, Michiel van Iersel and Mark Minkjan, has been selected for the Best Dutch Book Designs 2020. The jury chose 33 books from 267 entries that stood out in terms of content, design, image editing, typography, material, printing and binding. The 33 books will be the focus of a traditional exhibition of the same name in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam later this year. The catalogue De Best Verzorgde Boeken / The Best Dutch Book Designs 2020 will also be published at that time. The Dutch selection has been submitted to the international contest Schönste Bücher aus aller Welt. This year, the jury consisted of Yolanda Huntelaar (designer), Michaël Snitker (designer), Martijn Kicken (advisor at Drukkerij Tielen), Carine van Wijk (director Gottmer Uitgevers Groep) and Thomas Castro (graphic design custodian Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam).

debestverzorgdeboeken.nl

Landscape Triennial

For the 2021 Landscape Triennial, Sven Stremke, Paolo Picchi and Dirk Oudes curated an (online) exhibition on energy landscapes. ‘Our Energy, Our Landscape’ showed the work of ten young designers who have been working on the energy transition in design studios or graduation projects in recent years. The projects show innovative ways to realize the energy landscapes of the future, such as mobile solar panels that play a part in crop rotation, algae production in the polder and coastal defence lines in the North Sea combined with wind energy production. Short video presentations by the students and an accompanying essay are available at the website of the Landscape Triennial.

landschapstriennale.com/editie-2021/ landschapslaboratoria/onzeenergie/