Barcelona architect Jose Ahedo of Studio Ahedo has been selected over seven finalists and 200 applicants to receive the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s $100,000 Wheelwright Prize. The travel grant, now in its second year, was awarded to Ahedo for his proposal Domesticated Grounds: Design and Domesticity Within Animal Farming Systems, which focuses on the innumerable environmental and social challenges related to animal farming.
The jury lauded Ahedo’s proposal for “its integrated approach to a broad range of issues, and for his clarity in identifying architecture and design’s potential to shape more sustainable models of production for a global mega-industry.”
Over the next two years, Ahedo will use the grant to investigate “Taranaki, New Zealand, the premier milk exporter in the world; Ikhbulag and Orhkon Valleys, Mongolia, where half the population depends on livestock production; Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, which has one of the longest histories of animal farming and where mid-sized family farms have prevailed; Hainan, China, an island with hundreds of aquatic farms (hatcheries); and various centers and companies around the world producing agricultural research.”
Ahedo, a child of a Spanish dairy farmer and graduate of Harvard’s GSD, has built a portfolio that ranges from animal and dairy production facilities, to education centers, and private housing. Currently, he is working on a housing project in Tudela (Navarra, Spain), offices for Semex Italy, a bovine genetics company in Lodi (near Milan), and integrated farming software in collaboration with Tecnozoo Spain. Ahedo is also collaborating with Ignacio G. Galan on an installation that will be presented as part of Rem Koolhaas’ Fundamentals, at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale.
News via Wheelwright.org.
