Can architecture last in an impermanent world?
That's the question the Architectural League posed in its 35th annual portfolio competition for young designers and architects. In the League's words, the theme of "(Im)permanence," examines "how time affects architecture’s assertion of style, methods of assembly, and relationship to program, thus altering our expectations of permanent structures in an impermanent environment."
This year, the League awarded six North American practices with the prestigious prize. Winners will showcase their work in an exhibit at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City from June 29 to July 30, 2016, as well as participate in a lecture series.
Let's take a closer look at the winners and their projects, with studio descriptions from the firms themselves.
Rania Ghosn and El Hadi Jazairy of Design Earth in Ann Arbor, MI and Cambridge MA
Design Earth "engages the geographic to open up a range of aesthetic and political concerns for architecture and urbanism."
Juan Alfonso Garduño Jardón of G3 Arquitectos in Querétaro, Mexico
According to the Architectural League, G3 Arquitectos "works on designing strategies for social participation in a development located in the Altos de San Pablo neighborhood of Querétaro."
Hubert Pelletier and Yves de Fontenay of Pelletier de Fontenay in Montreal
Pelletier de Fontenay is "particularly interested in the relationship between the abstract concepts of architecture and their material incarnations."
Yasmin Vobis and Aaron Forrest of Ultramoderne in Providence
Ultramoderne is "committed to creating architecture and public spaces that are at once modern, playful, and generous."
Neyran Turan and Mete Sonmez of NEMESTUDIO in San Francisco
NEMESTUDIO creates "work ranging from buildings and installations to speculative projects in various scales. Our speculations draw upon the capacity of architecture to define a new relational aesthetics, one that is invested in questions of form and representation while being extremely rigorous about architecture's relationship to the city, the environment, and geography."
Neeraj Bhatia of The Open Workshop in San Francisco
The Open Workshop studio "uses a multidisciplinary approach to provide innovative, project-specific design solutions."
- The Architectural League Prize 2016: (im)permanence [The Architectural League]
- Architecture in 2015, A Year in Review: The Good, The Bad, and the Potato Chips [Curbed]