Announced the four winners to the most talented young architects, the YTAA 2018 prize

YTAA 2018: the 4 Winners are

Hendrik Brinkmann, College of Architecture, Media and Design Berlin University of the Arts;
Julio Gotor Valcárcel, Madrid School of Architecture Polytechnic University of Madrid;
Matthew Gregorowski, The Cass Faculty of Art Architecture & Design London Metropolitan University;
Loed Stolte, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment Delft University of Technology.

The Awards Ceremony will take place on September 20 at Palazzo Mora in Venice with a debate on Free Space, Education and Heritage in which the winners will participate together with emerging and well-known architects.

The European Commission, the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, the Architects’ Council of Europe and the European Association for Architectural Education have announced today the winners of the Young Talent Architecture Award 2018 (YTAA 2018).

“It is extraordinary to discover that during the European Year of Cultural Heritage, the 4 YTAA Winners have worked with the theme of heritage. Architectural education that includes heritage is essential for the future of Europe and the once heritage-contemporary dichotomy is becoming a powerful heritage-contemporary alliance.” Themis Christophidou, Director General DG EAC.

“ACE is delighted with the first results of the new collaboration with YTAA. Supporting the talents of the next generation is one of the core interests of the profession, in order to keep and foster its role in the planning process and in society.” Georg Pendl, President, Architects’ Council of Europe.

“The critical debate of questions of heritage and its importance for the shape of today's cities is the key to designing tomorrow's built environment in a culturally, socially and ecologically sustainable way. These award-winning projects are excellent promises from a generation of young talented architects who take up the responsibility and show good architectural citizenry.” Oya Atalay Franck, President, European Association for Architectural Education.

The jury decided to award YTAA 2018 to:

Hendrik Brinkmann, graduate from the College of Architecture, Media and Design (Berlin University of the Arts) for his project “Neue Bau|akademie Berlin - a club for the former & future architecture” (http://ytaa.miesbcn.com/work/521). The project is a contribution to the contemporary debate on the programmatical and architectural future of the Bauakademie in Berlin. Working on reconstruction means posing a set of questions that make the typical design problems more complex: all decisions need to take into account the existing building which might be long gone but very prominent in mind.

The Jury considered that the author sets a rhetorical project with questions to be asked with engagement, implicitly having a social and cultural relevance.

Julio Gotor Valcárcel, graduate from the Madrid School of Architecture (Polytechnic University of Madrid) for his project “Perdido (Lost) - P.R.U.S. of Madrid” (http://ytaa.miesbcn.com/work/453). The P.R.U.S of Madrid is the Plan of Recovery of the existing Underground Spaces of Madrid. The purpose of the project is to recover that forgotten and latent landscape converting it to public space. Starting from research, the Plan is developed by recovering the existing spaces, designing a new network of accesses and connecting the urban scenes.

The Jury highlighted that the project works with different scales at the same time: urban, infrastructure and the tectonics, through experimentation with the architectural system.

Matthew Gregorowski, graduate from The Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture & Design (London Metropolitan University) for his project “Deplorable Framework” (http://ytaa.miesbcn.com/work/500). The project is a proposal for the holistic reinvention of the British countryside. The formation of a vast new forest recomposes the landscape of the Peak District National Park and the structures within it. As human intervention becomes legible, impressions of nature are emancipated from naive conceptions of beauty.

The Jury was attracted by the complexity of the post Brexit situation and how the author deals with a strong concept to reimagine this new situation.

Loed Stolte, graduate from the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment (Delft University of Technology) for his project “The Bank of England: a dialectical project” (http://ytaa.miesbcn.com/work/360). Critically inspired by John Soane's legendary ‘ruin-esque’ Bank of England, the project explicitly engages the architectural dialectics of ruin and construction, interiority and exteriority with those of genuine publicity and institutional power.

The Jury was startled by the originality of this project, an intellectual piece of work which is extremely solid: the ruin, the money, the bank. The drawings are amazing and they are complemented by an incredible piece of writing.

Loed Stolte passed away on December 24, 2017. His family wished to keep his memory alive by participating in the award and disseminating his work. YTAA 2018 is dedicated to his memory.

The Jury highlighted that the four winners are complete thorough works, which bring up a set of questions and enquiries. Each design has a clear kind of position which allows to envisage the kick off of very interesting careers. As also seen in the finalist works, the act of architecture is inherently visionary and each project presents a kind of vision of how one would start to work for the future.

The Jury also underlined that the designs have an implicit social and cultural relevance which is materialised according to each personality and the personal arguments on how each author understands architecture and his social environment.

The YTAA Winners will be supported in the creation of a network with the architects and critics involved in the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award. To support their professional development, Europe's youngest architecture talent is granted:

· a commemorative sculpture and a diploma
· 5.000€ to kick off on their careers
· visibility through the YTAA 2018 travelling exhibition and the online archive
· a profile in World-Architects.com
· USM furniture to design their work space

The exhibition “Young Talent Architecture Award. YTAA 2018” was inaugurated last May 24th at Palazzo Mora and will remain open to the public until November 25th as a Collateral Event of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.

The Awards Ceremony will take place in Venice on September 20th in the framework of the exhibition and the European Year of Cultural Heritage.

On the occasion of the event a debate, on the topics of:

· Reuse and reconstruction of heritage;
· Heritage dimension in architectural education;

will put together YTAA winners, directors of the schools, jury members, EU Mies Award advisory committee members, organisers, sponsors and four participants of the Future Architecture Platform.

Source: Fundación Mies van der Rohe
Visit the Young Talent Architecture Award website