GAD Awards 20 - Virtually!

This year and for the first time ever, the 36 diploma projects nominated from the Faculty of Architecture were presented on their own website and were thus accessible to a wider audience. This year's jury of experts, consisting of Karla Kowalski (SZYSZKOWITZ.KOWALSKI + PARTNER), Michael Salvi (Schenker Salvi Weber Architekten) and Bettina Götz (ARTEC Architekten) met at the beginning of October for the jury meeting at Graz University of Technology to take another look at the books and models in order to then award the six prizes.

First prize was sponsored this year by Land Steiermark, Department 16 - Fachteam Baukultur and awarded to two diploma projects. According to the jury, Jakob Vinzenz Zöbl (“PALIMPSEST“) and Danijel Zorec (“The Living Bridges of Vienna“) produced “two excellent projects within their respective fields which are clearly formulated and are both convincing in their own way.” Jakob Zöbl’s project, supervised by Andreas Lechner (Institute of Design and Building Typology), focuses on the architectural potential of infrastructural buildings in the border region of the Hohe Tauern National Park, and is characterised by its sensitive and poetic nature. Daniel Zorec’s project, supervised by Roger Riewe (Institute of Architecture Technology), depicts an urban cluster in the form of several habitable bridges over the Donauinsel (the Danube Island in Vienna) and it convinced the jury with a radical and socially relevant design approach.

Third prize was awarded to Ramona Kraxner for her theoretical project “Kritik der ideologiefreien Architektur”, supervised by Anselm Wagner (Institute of Architectural Theory, Art History and Cultural Studies). The project makes a valuable contribution to active architectural criticism by heavily criticising the understanding of architecture as a service or as a purely pragmatic action. The jury gave three further awards: Paul Plankensteiner received the Hollomey Travel Award. His project “Die Architektur des Kreises” was supervised by Hans Gangoly (Institute of Building Typology).

Jomo Ruderer received the Tschom Housing Award for his project “Konkrete Utopie im Gemeindebau”, supervised by Daniel Gethmann (Institute of Architectural Theory, Art History and Cultural Studies). Finally, the project “TOPOS. Eine mikroklimatische Landschaft” by Maria Kougia, supervised by Klaus K. Loenhart, was recognised for resource-saving and climate-friendly architecture, a recognition prize made possible through the kind support of the Ziviltechnikerkammer (Chamber of Civil Engineers).

All award-winning projects will be displayed in the foyer of the Alte Technik building from October 15 – 19. Further details on the projects as well as the video recordings of the jury statements can be found on the website: www.gad-awards.tugraz.at