Young Architect of the Year Awards, YAYA, Results, Architects, Finalists, Images

Young Architect of the Year Award 2012 : Winner

YAYA Winner - Building Design Architecture Awards, London, UK

5 Dec 2012 BD Young Architect of the Year - YAYA 2012 BD names Britain’s Young Architect of the Year Coffey Architects beats the odds A small London-based business has defied the recession to become Britain’s most promising architecture practice. Coffey Architects has scooped the coveted Young Architect of the Year Award after impressing a panel of judges including artist Pablo Bronstein, Kathryn Firth of the London Legacy Company and award winning architects Graham Stirk and Clare Wright. Coffey Architects: photograph of the winning architects The judges for this year’s Young Architect of the Year Award spent a full two hours deliberating over the choice of winner. In the end, Coffey won out, the judges being swayed by the energy and professionalism of the presentation and noting their particular admiration for two small libraries that the practice had completed - one for the British Film Institute and the other an addition to a primary school in Kentish Town. These beautifully conceived projects convey an interest in making rooms that runs through all of Coffey’s work. “This means the world to me because all I've ever wanted to be was an architect,” said Phil Coffey. “As well as being an award for what we've done, it's an award for what might be possible in the future. Making things of beauty is what architecture is all about, ideas are not enough - it's about light, form, empathy and context.” About the Young Architect of the Year Award Now in its 15th year, the Autodesk Young Architect of the Year Award (YAYA) has long established itself as the UK’s premier award for emerging British architects. Organised by leading architecture paper BD, the unique judging process involves internationally renowned architects and critics and results in one of the most rigorous and stimulating competitions around. Entries are accepted from practices where the majority of principals are 40 years or younger. Entries from architects with a strong philosophy but without the back up of much built work are encouraged, as are entries from previous YAYA entrants. “YAYA has proved itself as a consistently strong means of identifying the most promising young architects of each generation and of offering them a helping hand towards the next stage of their careers,” said BD Executive Editor and Jury chairman Ellis Woodman. “The list of recent winners, including now well-established names like Lynch Architects, Carmody Groarke and Nord is testament to the prize’s effectiveness at casting a spotlight on the best young talent. Operating as a young architect in the UK remains a far from straightforward proposition but YAYA is a crucial means of allowing new practices to emerge.” Young Architect of the Year Award 2012 Judging Panel • Pete Baxter, Autodesk • Pablo Bronstein, Artist • Kathryn Firth, London Legacy Company • Graham Stirk, Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners • Clare Wright, Wright & Wright Architects About Coffey Architects Founded in 2005, Coffey Architects started by undertaking a £40,000 residential project in Islington, north London, and has since grown to support a staff of six. Last year, its library extension to a primary school in Kentish Town won the Stephen Lawrence Prize for the best project in the UK budgeted at less than £1 million. That project comprises a 5m-high reading room that also had to accommodate music lessons. The room’s primary element is a double-height bookshelf that is integrated with the staircase to an upper spectator level. The practice has also recently completed a library for the British Film Institute. The project has transformed a black box gallery space into an inviting interior through the use of materials and lighting. An array of bronze mesh curtains have been hung across the space, concealing the light sources and lending the room a pronounced rhythm. The judges were struck by the architectural ambition that Coffey brought to projects of even the smallest scale, enjoying particularly the assurance with which the architects deployed a diverse palette of materials. The panel also recognised the quality of the competition entries, suggesting that the practice would confidently make the leap to a larger scale of work. Young Architect of the Year Award - external link to BD article

Stirling Prize

BD Architect of the Year Awards - Winners

Young Architect of the Year - YAYA 2010

Serie Architects has won this year’s prestigious Young Architect of The Year Award (YAYA).

Open to all architects under the age of 40,YAYA is organised by the leading architectural weekly BD. It was established to celebrate the talents of the next generation of architects. Recent YAYA winners have included Hackett Hall McKnight, Carmody Groake and Nord.

Image: ’The Tote’,Mumbai, Indai by Serie Architects

photograph from Caro

Steve Tompkins, partner of Haworth Tompkins, who was on the Young Architect of The Year Award jury, commented: “Serie has demonstrated that it is prepared to tackle the big urban issues head-on. I would love to see them build to scale”.

Serie Architects were established in 2007 by Christopher Lee and Kapil Gupta. They were shortlisted for a YAYA a year later in 2008 but it was this year they that they received winning recognition from the judging panel.
The practice now has 14 staff spread between offices in London, Mumbai, Chengdu and Beijing. It was their ambitious scale of work that wowed the judges along with some beautifully crafted models. The practice recently completed a conversion of a banqueting hall in Mumbai called ‘The Tote’. A series of disused colonial buildings set within a Race Course were transformed into a banquet hall, bar and restaurant. The striking design of the building was inspired by rain trees, which stand on the site, the architects incorporated an impressive steel branch structure within the build to mirror them.

Serie also demonstrated an impressive ability to produce a varied portfolio for competitions. They recently won two housing contests in Bratislava, Slovakia, one of which was to design 440 apartments and resulted in a cluster of three high density towers of varying heights, the another a set of luxury suburban villas. Their proposals for Chinese projects also impressed with a concept for a horticultural park in Xi’an and a project to renovate a factory in Hangzhou as part of a new urban core. The firm decided to preserve the unique16 ft tall main hall of the factory and to accentuate the industrial drama of this massive void by restoring the concrete truss roof structure and by bringing additional light down through a newly glazed lantern.

BD editor, Ellis Woodman commented: “ The YAYA award has proved remarkably sure footed in it’s ability to spot emerging talent. Recent winners Nord have gone onto to build the 2012 Olympic park whilst Carmody Groake last year realised the memorial to the victims of the 7/7 bombings. We’re confident that Serie Architects will be the next to be making headlines.”

The winner of the YAYA 2010 was announced at The Architect of the Year Award dinner ceremony at The Intercontinental Hotel, London Park Lane on November 4th. They will receive the YAYA trophy and a consultation package from PR agency Caro Communications.

Architect of the Year Award - Background
The distinguished panel of YAYA judges includes: Margaret Howell, Fashion designer and Architecture patron. Steve Tomkins of Haworth Tompkins, Elliott Hodges from Foreign Office Architects and Fran Tonkiss from the LSE Cities Programme.

Other shortlisted architects for Young Architect of The Year Award 2010 were Erect Architects, Space Group Architects, Moxon Architects and Design Research Unit Wales.

BD’s Architect of the Year Award (YAYA) is rewarded annually at The Architect of the Year Awards. The Architecture Foundation presented Young Architect of the Year 2009.
The Architecture Foundation hosted an exhibition of the Young Architect of the Year Award (YAYA) shortlist.

YAYA 2009

Young Architect of the Year Award winner - 2009 : David Kohn Architects

Recognising emerging British and Irish practices, the Young Architect of The Year Award exhibition took place 2 - 23 October in the AF's new project space, designed by YAYA 2007 winner, Carmody Groarke.

Sarah Ichioka, Director of The Architecture Foundation said: "YAYA, with Building Design's backing, is an important platform to showcase the UK and Ireland's most promising new architects, something that The Architecture Foundation has held as a core aim for the past twenty years. In 2009 this priority is more important than ever, given the downturn in the industry. The award, and the exhibition in the AF's new Project Space, will allow us to evaluate the key merits, including innovation and resourcefulness, that these emerging practitioners exemplify."

The YAYA winner was presented at a dinner on 5 Nov 2009. Previous Young Architect of The Year Award winners include Hackett Hall McKnight (2008), Carmody Groarke (2007), Nord Architecture (2006), Lynch Architects (2005), Querkraft (2004), De Paor Architects (2003), Plasma Studio (2002), Oman & Videcnik (2001), Andrew Wright (2000), Camenzind Grafensteiner (1999), Niall McLaughlin (1998).
Joining Sarah Ichioka on the Young Architect of The Year Award jury will be Charles Saumarez Smith, Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts, London; Moritz Küng, Chief Curator, de Singel Arts Centre, Antwerp; Ivan Harbour, Director of Rogers Stirk Harbour Architects; Crispin Kelly, Director of Baylight Properties, London; and Simon Conder, Principle, Simon Conder Assoicates, London and Suffolk.

The YAYA exhibition was at The Architecture Foundation, London

Young Architect of the Year Awards : 2008 YAYA Winners

YAYA 2008 Winner
Hackett Hall McKnight



Young Architect of the Year Award Shortlist
AOC
Feix & Merlin Architects
Hackett Hall McKnight
Kraus Schoenberg
McChesney Architects
Serie Architects

YAYA 2007 Winner
Carmody Groarke

RIBA Awards



Young Architect of the Year Award Winner 2007 : Carmody Groarke

YAYA
The Architect of the Year Awards are organised by Building Design magazine, in co-operation with Building and Property Week magazines, to identify and reward the most outstanding architects across a range of different types of design work.

LEAF Awards 2008 Young Architect of the Year

BCO Awards

Roses Design Awards

Wood Awards

Comments / photos for the Architect of the Year Awards - YAYA 2012 winner page welcome: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Young Architect of the Year Awards - page : adrian welch / isabelle lomholt

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