International Architecture Students Awards

Vienna, 2009 New: International Competition for Students of Architecture and Regional Planning Blue Award 09 ”Building for an environment worth living in” With the Blue Award, the Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University of Vienna, Department for Spatial and Sustainable Design is holding for the first time an international student competition on sustainable architecture. The launch date is set for November 10, 2009 and is open to architecture students worldwide! image : Ralf Furulund With the debut of the international Blue Award, the Department of Spatial and Sustainable Design, from the Institute of Architecture and Design, is announcing an award for the best student works in the topic of sustainable architecture and building culture. The opening presentation of the Blue Award will take place on November 10, 2009 at the TU Vienna. From that point on, works from Bachelor, Master or Diploma studies can be submitted. The competition is open worldwide to students of architecture, regional planning and urbanism. Prizes totaling 15.000 euros will be awarded. The competition was initiated by the architect Univ. Prof. Mag.arch. Françoise-Hélène Jourda, director of the Department of Spatial and Sustainable Design, and functions under the patronage of the International Union of Architects (UIA). The award’s main purpose is to encourage the topic of sustainability in architecture, regional planning and urbanism. Concurrently, it shall recognize and award students and teachers dedicated in pursuing the topic in their studies. The Blue Award aims at helping standardize the exchange between various architecture schools and faculties. image : Margot Krasojevic The Blue Award will be handed out in 3 categories The Blue Award will be distributed among the three categories ”Urban Transformation and Development”, ”Building with Ecological Systems” and ”Building in Existing Structures”. The emphasis of the category ”Urban Transformation and Development” includes topics from urban redevelopment, renewal, and restructuring of existing city fabric to development of new housing structures and typologies. Concepts dealing with self-sufficient housing developments, environment friendly forms of mobility, and new interpretations of open/public spaces in urban areas are equally important to this category. In the category ”Building with Ecological Systems”, submitted projects are to reveal the basic principles of sustainable planning and construction, including its social, economical and ecological factors, in the form of an architectonic design. The topics of the category ”Building in Existing Structures” are methods of renovation, adaptation and conversion. Beyond these usual themes, projects will be awarded which succeed in increasing significantly the average longevity and usage capacity of existing structures, as well as projects which reduce the volumetric demand of new construction. JURY and EXHIBITION An international jury, presided by Prof. Thomas Herzog, university professor and architect in Munich, and also expert on sustainable building, will choose the prize winners in each of the three categories previously mentioned. The awards ceremony will take place in April 2010 at the TU Vienna. The winning entries will be presented to the public in an exhibition and published catalog. The prize shall be awarded in the future on a regular basis.