Shortlist Announcement Prix de Rome Architecture 2022

For the final round the four candidates are asked to further develop their positioning and propose spatial interventions for their selected Healing Sites. Each will be given the opportunity, supported by a work budget, to develop their design proposals during a four-month working period. Their designs will be exhibited at Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam from November. Based on the new proposals, the jury will announce the winner at the start of December. The winning candidate will receive 40,000 euros and a residency abroad.

In addition to the nominees, the jury has nominated the following six candidates to receive honourable mentions for their proposals: Bram van Ooijen – DISPLACED CITY, dérive (Kevin Westerveld en Hedwig van der Linden) – Ground for Dialogue, Estelle Barriol – Cultivating the Metropolis, Georges Taminiau – Architect of the Natural Kingdom, Gianna Bottema – Cooperative Resistance: Spatial Protocols for Collective Action, and Sophia Holst – Housing Pain, Healing Strategies.

jury

The jury made its selection from a list of 53 architects, urban planners, interior architects, and landscape architects who submitted their proposal in response to the Open Call: Healing Sites. The four shortlisted candidates each came up with a current, relevant, artistic and strongly cohesive spatial statement, which makes the jury curious about the further elaboration of the formulated assignment. The jury nominated six entries for an honorable mention, because they play an exemplary role based on subject, positioning or artistic quality.

The jury was impressed by the quality of the spatial statements and the accompanying writings, which, as a whole, gave a wide cross-section of the current preoccupations of a young generation of Dutch spatial practitioners, whilst at the same time critically evaluating on their own position and responsibility, both in relation to the architectural discipline and the broader current social issues.

For a full reflection on the Open Call by the jury, please find the jury report here.

For the Prix de Rome 2022 Architecture the jury consists of:
- Afaina de Jong (founder and director AFARAI)
- Alessandra Covini (co-founder and co-director Studio Ossidiana, winner Prix de Rome 2018)
- Carson Chan (director Emilio Ambasz Institute at MoMA)
- Dirk Sijmons (founder H+N+S Landscape Architects)
- Jan Jongert (founding partner Superuse Studios)
- Syb Groeneveld (executive director Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, technical chair)

Second Assignment: Healing Sites

Where the Open Call of the first round asked candidates to frame their spatial practices, the second round will ask the shortlist to further develop their proposals and position their practices. The jury asks them to specifically seek answers to how their proposals can become spatially performative in addressing the contemporary issues their statements pointed to. Going beyond revealing past trauma and merely reflecting on the past, addressing the healing that needs to happen through the architectural devices connected to their sites. Additionally, the jury is curious to understand how the candidates address the role of architects, urbanists, and landscape architects in these processes.

jurering

De jury heeft de selectie gemaakt uit 53 anonieme inzendingen van architecten, stedenbouwkundigen, interieurarchitecten en landschapsarchitecten die reageerden op de Open Call Healing Sites. De vier shortlist kandidaten zijn elk gekomen met een actueel, relevant, artistiek en sterk samenhangend ruimtelijk statement, waardoor de jury benieuwd is naar de verdere uitwerking van de geformuleerde opgave. Daarnaast heeft de jury zes inzendingen voorgedragen voor een eervolle vermelding, doordat ze op basis van onderwerp, positionering of artistieke kwaliteit een voorbeeldstellende rol innemen.

De jury was onder de indruk van de overall kwaliteit van de ruimtelijke statements en de bijbehorende teksten. De verzameling aan inzendingen weerspiegelt een scherpe uiteenzetting van de verschillende bezorgdheden van deze jonge generatie ruimtelijk ontwerpers. Tegelijkertijd werd er door de ontwerpers kritisch gereflecteerd op de eigen positie en verantwoordelijkheid, zowel in relatie tot de architectuurdiscipline alsook de bredere actuele maatschappelijke opgaven.

Het volledige juryrapport met daarin een uitgebreide reflectie op de Open Call is hier te vinden.

De jury voor de Prix de Rome 2022 Architectuur bestaat uit:
• Afaina de Jong (oprichter en directeur AFARAI)
• Alessandra Covini (medeoprichter en mededirecteur Studio Ossidiana, winnaar van Prix de Rome 2018)
• Carson Chan (directeur Emilio Ambasz Institute bij MoMA)
• Dirk Sijmons (oprichter H+N+S Landschapsarchitecten)
• Jan Jongert (oprichtend partner Superuse Studios)
• Syb Groeneveld (directeur-bestuurder Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, technisch voorzitter)

tweede opdracht: Healing Sites

In de Open Call voor de eerste ronde werd aan de kandidaten gevraagd om hun ontwerpbenadering te duiden en een opgave in te kaderen. In de tweede ronde gaan de shortlist kandidaten in op de vraag om de voorstellen verder uit te werken en hun ontwerppraktijken aan de hand hiervan te positioneren. Specifiek vraagt de jury om te zoeken naar een passende ruimtelijke vertaalslag op de door hun gekozen site, om zo de achterliggende opgaven te adresseren, voorbij het onthullen van de trauma’s uit het verleden en daarop louter te reflecteren, om met behulp van architectonische mechanismen het adequate genezingsproces in gang te zetten voor de desbetreffende site. Daarbij daagt de jury de kandidaten uit om een duiding te geven aan de rol die architecten, stedenbouwkundigen, interieurarchitecten en landschapsarchitecten (zouden moeten) spelen in deze processen.

Arna Mačkić (1988, co-founder Studio L A)

International Centre for Architectural Disaster calls on the responsibility of architects to heal the wounds of architectural disasters. The building of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague is redesigned to host a new institution that will heal through restorative justice, a process that focuses on mediation instead of trial. This is done in order to expose the systems behind architectural disasters, to give voice to those affected, to repair the damage, and to generate spatial knowledge resulting in a new architectural movement. The jury praised the original approach where multiple sites could be dealt with through the redesign of a symbolic building. A site that also calls into question what we do with our obsolete institutions. The spatial statement provided a clear proposition and the text was, in the opinion of the jury, beautifully composed, giving a serious critique of where we stand as a profession. The jury reflects that all disasters could potentially be seen as ‘architectural’ disasters. What would be needed to establish this new healing legal structure and how does this translate in an architectural intervention that dynamically engages different stakeholders?

Lesia Topolnyk (1989, founder StudioSpaceStation)

No Innocent Landscape states that the current man-made struggle is inevitably embedded in the landscape. The small mining village of Hrabove is a very apparent site for this, which all of a sudden became of national importance to the Dutch, irrespective of geographical borders, due to the MH17 tragedy. The jury was very much impressed by the choice of a site that holds extreme relevance to the central topic of ‘guilty landscapes’ and how it is gathering traces and fragments of the different forces at play: from the downing of the aeroplane to the illegal mining activities in the region. This strong conceptual approach is reflected in the spatial statement, that shows equally artistic quality, through layered use of audio and video, and a sensitivity to historical events. The jury underlines that design can act as a spatial language revealing invisible processes and questioning a healing way forward. How can the proposal go beyond an autonomous artistic intervention and activate the forensic research to heal all those connected to the site?

Studio KIWI: Kim Kool (1989, works at Strootman Landschapsarchitecten) and Willemijn van Manen (1989, works at ZUS)

Grounds of [In]justice addresses the mistrust by the people of the Dutch government in the aftermath of the toeslagenaffaire. In the face of climate change, which can only be tackled if “we stand together”, the project identifies the need for a restoration of trust. As a gesture of reconciliation by the government, Studio KIWI proposes to start a healing process by reconsidering the design of the twenty-one counters of the Belastingdienst. The jury appreciated the layered approach in which social issues were carefully connected to physical architecture and where the healing is sought on both a material and systematic level. In addition, the jury praised the imaginary expression of the proposal in the images and the spatial statement, showing the artistic capabilities of the candidates. How can the proposed sites become part of a healing process beyond being spaces of contemplation, but as spatially performative and activating in restoring trust in our fiscal services?

Dividual: Andrea Bit (1992, co-founder Dividual and works at MLA+) and Maciej Wieczorkowski (1990, co-founder Dividual and works at KCAP)

Colonies of Benevolence focuses on the topic of colonialism on our home turf centred specifically around Veenhuizen. Its complex history provides a current day reflection on the relation between labour and nature, showing that healing is not always an innocent process. The jury praises the analytic premise that led to the choice for a location filled with historical tensions. The spatial statement showed an artistic precision that carried through in the written work tying Dutch colonialism, the beginnings of Dutch welfare, and a celebration of the unproductive. How can the historical significance of the site become actively healing in our times?

The Prix de Rome is the oldest and most generous award in the Netherlands for visual artists under the age of 40 and architects under the age of 35. This year the Prix de Rome Architecture is organized by the Mondriaan Fund in collaboration with the Creative Industries Fund NL and Het Nieuwe Instituut, on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The companion publication will be published by Jap Sam Books.