When Craft Meets Code: Architizer’s Global Tour Continues With A+Awards Event in Paris

In partnership with Materials Financial institution Europe | Polygood | Launch AEC

As Paris loved its remaining autumnal days, architects, designers and artistic leaders gathered for a night that intertwined dialogue and celebration. Hosted in collaboration with Launch [AEC], the occasion adopted a energetic day of reside demos of the newest software program that’s reshaping the AEC business, along with a collection of fascinating keynote displays by business leaders who’re writing the brand new narrative about AI and creativity within the occupation.

When nightfall settled on town, the Architizer’s A+Awards regional celebration started with a reside panel titled Hidden Applied sciences: Rethinking Expertise in Up to date Structure. Removed from specializing in digital instruments alone, the dialogue explored how innovation in structure typically lies in restraint — in figuring out which applied sciences will actually remodel a venture and which ought to be left apart.

The panel introduced collectively three A+Award-winning practices whose work embodies distinct approaches to design and technical intelligence. Isabel Van Haute, Co-Founder and Creative Director of Coldefy, mentioned the agency’s strategy to 4 very totally different designs geared toward very distinct contexts, together with the A+Award-winning Fondation Chine. Subsequent, Philippe Croisier, Co-Founding Architect of Atelier du Pont, shared insights from their Pavilion Jardins at Parc de la Villette, a “low-tech” bioclimatic construction that proves conventional passive programs can outperform complicated mechanical ones. Lastly, François Chatillon, Founder and Chief Architect for Historic Monuments at Chatillon Architectes, revealed how superior digital modeling knowledgeable the painstaking restoration of the Grand Palais, enabling exact interventions whereas preserving its historic integrity.

Francois Chatillon describes his agency’s restoration of Paris’ Grand Palais | Photograph by Philippe Servent

Collectively, these views set the tone for the night — one outlined by materials intelligence, technological curiosity and a shared perception in structure’s energy to attach. All of this got here collectively as a becoming context for an evening of celebration, dialog and connection along with the 14th Architizer A+Awards season, which is now open for entries.

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Setting the Stage

Photograph by Philippe Servent

Because the panel concluded, attendees transitioned into the Architizer A+Awards Paris Celebration, marking the second cease on the A+Awards’ new world tour, following the inaugural occasion in New York Metropolis. The night honored three Challenge of the 12 months winners from throughout Europe and Africa — initiatives that symbolize not solely technical ingenuity, but additionally a deep engagement with tradition, craft and group.

Opening the celebration, Hannah Feniak, Architizer’s Managing Editor, welcomed visitors and mirrored on the night’s theme: “Tonight, as we have fun design innovation, it feels particularly becoming to be gathered right here, at an occasion devoted to sparking dialog and sharing data concerning the improvements which can be reshaping our business… To focus on the immense affect of fine structure, and to speak the worth of this very important occupation to individuals around the globe.”

She additionally previewed this system’s future route, introducing the following A+Awards theme: Structure’s New Period of Craft. “Within the face of quickly advancing know-how and the evolving expectations of purchasers, we’re seeing architects reclaim their function as makers by means of materials intelligence and the artwork of detailing.”

Craft and Group in Mallorca

Marc Alventosa, Joan J. Fortuny and Xavier Morell of Fortuny-Alventosa Morell Arquitectes | Photograph by Claire Jaillard

The primary Challenge of the 12 months Award was offered by Marc Solsona, Head of Technique at Materials Financial institution Europe, who launched 6 HPP Ses Veles Puigpunyent by Fortuny-Alventosa Morell Arquitectes. The six-unit public housing complicated on the island of Mallorca revives conventional Mediterranean development strategies — lime, stone, ceramics and timber — to attain near-zero power use and an structure deeply rooted in place.

Accepting the award, Joan Fortuny, Xavier Morrell, and Marc Alventosa spoke of the venture’s quiet radicalism: “We’re actually glad that a global award just like the A+Awards shines a light-weight on a venture that won’t search visibility by means of a spectacular picture, however by means of the depth of its course of.”

“The design course of was guided totally by the standards of the location, reusing supplies from its personal excavation and from the island itself,” they continued. “No different supplies have been concerned within the course of, which implies actually recovering the constructing tradition of the place, whereas attaining a really low CO₂ footprint. This round strategy reinforces our perception that sustainability shouldn’t be solely ecological, but additionally social and cultural.”

They closed with a mirrored image that resonated all through the night: “We’re particularly proud that it is a social housing venture. Housing should return to being a fundamental proper, not a monetary instrument. Structure is usually a device for change.”

The Dignity of Infrastructure in Cape City

Jan-Dirk van der Walt and Gustav Roberts of SALT Architects | Photograph by Philippe Servent

Subsequent, Philippe Brocart, Founding father of Launch [AEC], took the stage to current the Challenge of the 12 months Award to SALT Architects for the Cape Flats Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) Plant in Cape City, South Africa — a vital infrastructure venture that purifies water and recharges town’s aquifer. The design, expressed by means of brick and concrete, offers architectural dignity to the unseen programs that maintain city life.

Of their acceptance remarks, Gustav Roberts and Jan-Dirk van der Walt mirrored on the social and ethical dimensions of their work: “The Aquifer Recharge Plant displays a deep shared worth of care — about how we select to construct, and what that claims about us as a society. Each act of development contributes to our shared tradition. The way in which we design, the eye we give, and the dignity we convey to even probably the most practical buildings, displays how we see our future and who we wish to be.”

They added: “Celebrating these infrastructure programs permits residents to note the place their water comes from and the way their metropolis works. It turns one thing technical into one thing individuals can relate to and take satisfaction in.”

Craftsmanship Reimagined in Montmartre

Julien Labrousse of Policronic | Photograph by Philippe Servent

The ultimate Challenge of the 12 months Award of the night went to Resort Elysée Montmartre by Policronica, positioned only a quick metro journey away from the occasion venue. Launched by Lucia Stroetzel, head of Architect Relations at Architizer, the venture was celebrated for its radical materials circularity — reworking eucalyptus, an invasive species and hearth danger, into refined joinery by means of a self-developed photo voltaic vacuum drying course of. The design not solely revitalizes a long-abandoned constructing, nevertheless it additionally showcases the fantastic thing about technical ingenuity and the worth of difficult materials processes — even when they could appear entrenched. The 16-room resort unfolds as an immersive research in woodcraft — each floor, fixture, and furnishing conceived, fabricated, and put in by the studio’s personal design and manufacturing groups.

Accepting the award, Julien Labrousse, Founding father of Policronica, shared his gratitude and perspective: “It’s a great honor for the Policronica studio to obtain an Architizer Award. This venture embodies our whole dedication to sustainability and craftsmanship. It proves that structure can unite design and manufacturing, creating work that’s regionally made, technically rigorous and deeply human.”

A Celebration of Craft and Connection

alvarez | sotelo have been named Jury Winner for the Greatest Younger Inside Design Agency | Photograph by Claire Jaillard

Tsou Arquitectos choose up their award for Casa da Levada in Penafiel, Portugal, which was the Jury and Common Selection Winner for Sustainable Personal Home | Photograph by Claire Jaillard

Closing the night, Hannah Feniak returned to the stage to thank the companions — Launch AEC, Materials Financial institution Europe and Polygood — and to commend all the thirteenth A+Awards season’s winners for his or her creativity and conviction: “By sharing your data by means of your work, you encourage architects throughout the globe to try for higher buildings, higher cities, and a greater world.”

As visitors clinked their glasses and mingled amongst each other, conversations continued late into the night time — between younger architects impressed by the talks, established practitioners discussing course of and politics, and designers exchanging concepts for the following competitors cycle.

DA bureau was named Jury Winner for the Greatest Inside Design Agency | Photograph by Claire Jaillard

DEED Studio clinched Jury Winner in Structure +Pictures and Video for his or her collection on the Course of Division of Shamim Polymer Manufacturing unit, Tehran, Iran | Photograph by Claire Jaillard

The Paris celebration marked not simply one other milestone within the thirteenth Architizer A+Awards season, but additionally a transparent assertion of goal: that structure’s future lies within the integration of know-how, craft and group Subsequent, the journey continues to Shenzhen, the place Architizer’s world celebration of architectural innovation will conclude the season amid one of many world’s fastest-growing hubs of experimentation — closing out a season that proves design excellence is aware of no borders. Keep tuned for tales on extra winners’ celebrations within the coming weeks!

All of that is encapsulated within the theme of the 14th A+Awards season, which is now open for entries:

Undergo the 14th Architizer A+Awards