While doing some research for a real estate project I found the MIPIM awards, a competition established 9 years ago to promote good design, related to MIPIM a market for international property trade that takes place in Cannes every year. As this event is aimed to real estate and property professionals, the award gives visibility to what we usually see on architectural magazines to another -very important- audience. In previous years it has recognized works such as the Meydan Umraniye Mall by F-O-A or the Mountain Dwellings by BIG, two programs in which market dictates, but where good design can give added value.
Today 8 projects have received the 2010 award in different categories: Offices, Regeneration & Masterplanning, Residential, Tall Buildings, Sustainability, Big Urban projects, Mixed Use and Retail & Leisure. Also, 16 projects received a “Highly Recommended” mention on those categories.
And the overall award went to One New Change, a massive mixed use project in the City of London by Jean Nouvel and Sidell Gibson Architects. The project includes over 35,000 sqm commercial and 25,000 sqm retail space, and it was a challenge in terms of design and planning, due to its proximity with St Pauls Cathedral.
The Judges applauded the new landmark for transforming the whole image of this part of the financial centre, providing a new focal point for visitors and city users alike. They also observed that One New Change provides a refreshing contrast to the surrounding retro-architecture, providing a successful combination of ancient and modern, praising both the developer and the planning authority for showing “great independence of mind” against pressure to submit a more historicist approach.
Full list of awarded projects after the break:
Offices
Winner – Güneşli Tower, located in Bağcılar, Istanbul and designed by Suyabatmaz Architects. The design of this ambitious project was influenced by the location of the site on the edge of town, adjacent to a major road and the perception of the building. The judges said that this was a building with “long-life quality which would be capable of long-term occupation and reuse”. The 23-floor high office block has a dichotomy of emptiness and fullness, determined by the external façade which creates internal spaces whilst enabling significant energy-saving.
Regeneration and Masterplanning
Winner – Nordhavnen, in Copenhagen, Denmark, designed by FXFOWLE Architects. Developed in response to an International competition by the City of Copenhagen, the brief invited entrants to set new standards for urban development. Through the creation of land reclamation, the plan connects urban infrastructure, extends waterways and weaves open space into new residential neighbourhoods and commercial areas fit for urban life over the next 50 years. The judges were intrigued by the way FXFOWLE’s scheme had taken a former industrial zone and optimised its exposure to view and water which created a new, holistic vision. The coherence of the plan has with it the promise of a series of distinctive individual place.
Residential
Winner – Mina El Hosn’ housing project in Beirut designed by LAN Architecture. Located close to the port, this 142 meter high tower will soar above the skyline whilst the building’s mirrored skin will reflect images of the surrounding city. The judges were impressed by the introduction of volumetric space in this tight, regular plan and agreed that, when completed, visitors would “want to find out more about it”.
Tall Buildings
Winner – Al-Birr Foundation Headquarters “Garden Tower”, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, designed by Perkins+Will for Al-Birr Foundation. Designed to reinterpret the typology of an urban tower, the structure is calibrated to the extreme solar exposure and heat conditions of the microclimate of Riyadh, and employs innovation in elevation and section which includes symbolic analogies to Saudi historical precedents—the minaret, the garden, and the mashrabiya. The judges said that this was an unexpected and welcome example of a high rise building which has a dynamic relationship between plan and section.
Sustainability
Winner – Town Town Office Tower, Vienna, Austria, designed by COOP HIMMELB(L)AU Wolf D. Prix / W. Dreibholz & Partner ZT GmbH for Immobiliendevelopment Wiener Stadtwerke BMG & Soravia Aktiengesellschaft. The Town Town Office Tower in Erdberg is the main element of a developing urban zone with a gross area of 120.000 m². The ambitious, environmentally intelligent design is intended to create an energy-active system that introduces both proven and innovative low energy consumption systems, environmental control systems and newly developed energy harvesting systems. The judges commented that the concept “posits the powering of buildings by the whole façade”, praising the scheme for indicating the possibility that energy design can stimulate creative forms.
Big Urban Projects
Winner – Amfora Amstel, designed by Zwarts & Jansma Architects. This is a major below-ground infrastructure project in central Amsterdam. The judges applauded an intelligent use of essential elements of the city which places them underground, leaving the urban realm for its human enjoyment.
Mixed Use
Winner – One New Change, London, UK designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel and Sidell Gibson Architects for Land Securities. One New Change (also the Overall Winner) comprises 35,000 sqm commercial and 25,000 sqm retail space and creates a transformational landmark close to St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London.
Retail & Leisure
Winner – Nebuta-no-ie Warasse, Aomori City, Japan, designed by molo Japan kk & d/dt Arch Inc and Frank la Rivière Architects Inc for City of Aomori. The Nebuta House is designed to exhibit Nebuta art (huge paper creatures, warriors and demons) during the annual August festival. A screen of twelve metre tall steel ribbons encloses an outdoor walkway, intended as a threshold between the mythical world inside and the contemporary city outside. The judges felt that Nebuta House was a joyful and elegant response to the whole idea of display, with the restraint of the frozen wrap of the architecture a perfect foil to the exuberance of the Nebuta figures inside.
