Living Steel Announces Competition: Finalists

Living Steel Announces Finalists for 3rd International Architecture Competition for Sustainable Housing

12 Teams Compete for Extreme Housing in Russia

Brussels, Belgium, 2 June 2008 – Living Steel today divulged the 12 finalist architect teams who will submit concepts for sustainable steel housing in Cherepovets, Russia. Selected from 246 completed submissions from architects in 52 countries expressing interest to compete, the finalist teams are:

• Ben Addy and Tim Murray, Moxon Architects, Ltd., United Kingdom
• Rossana Atena, ATENASTUDIO, and Fabio Cibinel, modostudio, Italy
• Hugh Broughton and Philip Wells, Hugh Broughton Architects, United Kingdom
• Chris Clarke and Joel Kelder, Bligh Voller Nield, Australia
• Lourenço Gimenes and Rodrigo Silva, FGMF Arquitetos, Brazil
• Sandeep Jagadeesh and Vimal Jain, ARCHITECTURE PARADIGM, India
• Daniel Jenkins and David Turrent, ECDA, United Kingdom
• Grigory Kuzhelev and Galina Budnikova, LCA, Russia
• Lua Nitsche and Pedro Nitsche, Nitsche Arquitetos, Brazil
• Pekka Pakkanen and Risto Huttunen, H-L-P Architects, Finland
• Peter Stutchbury and Richard Smith, Stutchbury and Pape, Australia
• Kathy Velikov, RVTR and Paul Raff, RVTR, Canada

The winning team will share a Jury Prize of €50,000 and the opportunity to see their design realised in Cherepovets.

The 3rd International Architecture Competition originally was to include ten teams; however the Selection Committee unanimously decided to increase the number of finalist teams.

“These finalist architects represent a wealth of creative minds in sustainable design that expressed interest in this competition,” said Scott Chubbs, Living Steel Programme Director. “Given the quality of the submissions and the experiences each team has to offer, it was decided to expand the competition by two teams.”

According to the Competition Brief, the finalists are charged with developing three to five housing styles of approximately 120 m2 each based on a single construction technology. The extreme challenge in this competition is to design the homes to be highly energy efficient and to minimise climate change emissions through the life cycle of the buildings, within a USD120,000 (approximately €76,000) construction budget (not including land and kitchen outfitting). The Brief suggests energy consumption of 100 kWh/a per m2—this in Cherepovets, Russia, where temperatures swing from summer highs of +34o C to winter lows of -49 o C. The building site will eventually be the location of a community of up to 500 homes developed by Living Steel member steel company SeverStal for its employees.

The twelve short-listed teams were given the project brief and one month to put together their ideas for efficient, sustainable housing that fits the location specifications. These teams will travel to Helsinki, Finland, where they will present their concepts to the competition's Jury on 26-27 June 2008.

The Jury members represent some of the world's finest architects, known for their passion for great design and their application of sustainable practices in their work. Glenn Murcutt returns to the 3rd International Architecture Competition jury, and is joined by:

• Kimmo Lintula, K2S Architects Ltd., Finland,
• Mark Middleton, Grimshaw Architects, UK
• Patricia Patkau, Patkau Architects, Canada
• Sergey Skuratov, Sergey Skuratov Architects, Russia
• Alexei Venediktov, SeverStal, Russia

In addition to the design competition, a two-day Charrette will follow on 28-29 June in Helsinki where the teams will be joined together in groups and tasked with master planning of the community development. The groups will present their plans to each other and then vote on which group offered the best solution. The winning group will share the €20,000 Architects' Prize.

Each of the twelve competition teams will be awarded a €3,000 honorarium.

The competition event in Helsinki will conclude with an awards dinner on 29 June 2008 and the announcement of the winners of the Jury Prize and Architects' Prize.

“We thank the many teams that entered our competition,” Chubbs said, “It is exciting and encouraging to Living Steel that so many have a desire to take up the challenge for low climate change emissions buildings that conceptualise the home people want and deserve.”


See the Competition Brief and other relevant information at www.livingsteel.org/extremehousing

Lawrenny Sustainable Housing, Pembrokeshire -Shortlist announced

The RIBA Competitions Office and the Royal Society of Architects in Wales (RSAW) are pleased to announce the names of the practices short-listed to the competition for a new sustainable housing development in Lawrenny, Pembrokeshire.

The first stage of the competition attracted a phenomenal response with 92 Expressions of Interest from architectural practices throughout the UK and Europe. Lawrenny Enterprises were astounded by the range and variety of practices who applied and the exceptional quality of the submissions.

The Jury Panel consisted of Directors from Lawrenny Enterprises together with Richard Nightingale (Cullum and Nightingale Architects Ltd) acting as the RIBA Adviser. The Panel faced a difficult task in selecting a long-list, but selected those practices who they felt had demonstrated a real empathy for the project and would be best suited to rise to the challenges and opportunities of the rural development site. The eight practices invited to attend an interim interview (in alphabetical order) were:
• Ash Sakula Architects
• Davies Sutton Architecture
• Featherstone Associates
• Inglis Badrashi Loddo Architects
• David Kohn Architects
• Letts Wheeler Architecture and Design Ltd.
• Riches Hawley Mikhail Architects
• Tom Russell Architects.

The interviews gave each practice an opportunity to discuss their possible approach to the project and to explore potential future working relationships with Lawrenny Enterprises. The following practices have been invited to develop design proposals for the development:
• Ash Sakula Architects
• Davies Sutton Architecture
• Letts Wheeler Architecture and Design Ltd.
• Tom Russell Architects

Adrian Lort-Phillips (Managing Director, Lawrenny Enterprises) commented: ‘There is no doubt that we have got four incredibly talented teams lined up for the final stage. I am certain we would never have found them had we not run the RIBA competition. Now we move to the design stage where it's going to get really exciting. We can't wait to see what the teams come up with.’

The four teams will present their design proposals to the Jury Panel at a final assessment to be held in Lawrenny in late July 2008.

Choices for Grahame Park: winners

Choices for Grahame Park announces design team competition winners for regeneration project

Choices for Grahame Park (CfGP) has appointed a design team led by architects Jestico + Whiles for a key phase of its £95m regeneration gateway Phase 1b project.

Key to the ground-breaking development will be a new library, park, community centre and shops for Grahame Park, as well as over 500 new homes. Construction work is due to start in 2010.

Five architect design teams were shortlisted from thirty Europe-wide entrants to prepare design proposals for the three main mixed-use buildings and the new town square.

Residents played a key role in this process. The Grahame Park Residents’ Design Panel assessed the shortlisted teams before they were further assessed by the CfGP Evaluation Team which included Barnet Council and Countryside Properties. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) managed the competition process and provided a specialist architect adviser.

The evaluation panel assessed Jestico + Whiles as “superb leaders for this project” and, together with their team members, Rivington Street Studio and Peter Barber Architects, were considered “brilliant designers” for addressing the challenges and opportunities of Grahame Park’s Phase 1b.

The next steps are for the Jestico + Whiles consortium to join the technical team to begin the process of developing the design proposals. This will involve consulting with the community, working up ideas and liaising with the Council’s Planning and Highways departments.

Anne Dufton, Chief Executive of Choices for Grahame Park, part of Genesis Housing Group, said ‘CfGP is again bringing excellent architects into Colindale. Our expectations and those of the Grahame Park residents have been raised by this enthralling competition process. We had so many great ideas presented to us by some extremely talented teams of architects and are delighted with our choice, the Jestico + Whiles team.’

Heinz Richardson, Director of Jestico + Whiles, said “We are absolutely delighted to have been chosen for this important regeneration project, particularly given the extremely high calibre of the shortlisted teams. We look forward to working together with Choices for Grahame Park, and in particular the residents of Grahame Park, to create a truly inspirational and sustainable place to live, which is above all humane”