One hundred twenty-three projects of young architects (up to 45 years old) and students of architecture universities from 32 countries of the world were evaluated by a jury, which included architects Christine Konix (Belgium, Conix Architects), Sergey Tchoban (Russia, SPEECH Choban / Kuznetsov), Umberto Napolitano (France, LAN Architecture) and Professor of the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of the Far Eastern Federal University Pavel Kazantsev.
The competition was held in two nominations - “Barrier-free environment” (“Accessibility”) and “Green” technologies”(“Sustainability”), which were subdivided into two categories: for architects and students. Thus, there were 12 prize-winners, and only one of our compatriots received the award, more precisely one - student Anastasia Gerasimova, who took third place in the "Barrier-Free Environment" nomination. Most of the winners (three) were from Spain.
In the category "Green" technologies "the first places were taken by: the architectural studio VIRAI ARQUITECTOS (Spain) with the project of the winery La Grajera and the student Gracia Romero (Venezuela) with the project of the educational center.
The VIRAI ARQUITECTOS winery project strikes a balance between the need to create a high-tech functional production and the desire to organically fit it into the picturesque landscape. The shape of the plan of the complex, consisting of several volumes, is dictated by the border of the adjacent forest, and its volumes follow the relief. The authors managed to create such a comfortable environment that this place has become a center of attraction and people willingly gather here for concerts, evenings, meetings …
The walls of the buildings are lined with local sandstone, the "slopes" of the roof are covered with a lawn. All this helps the architecture to harmoniously continue the landscape, but not to merge with it completely - which is hindered by the chopped forms of the volumes. The choice of building and finishing materials, green roofing and other rational findings are not only aesthetically pleasing, but also allow solving the issues of reducing heat loss.
In summer, the glazed surfaces are covered with vertical slats, and in winter, on the contrary, they open the interior space to the sun and heat, which significantly reduces the cost of air conditioning and heating the building. Savings are also achieved through the use of geothermal pumps.
It is curious that special ceramic blocks with vertical ribs are used for blind areas. The rhythm of the ribs and the play of light and shade on them correspond to the "hatching" of the lamellas. And due to the fact that the ribs are hollow, the facades are ventilated - they do not overheat in the summer and retain heat in the winter.
The Sinamaica Lagoon in Venezuela is considered one of the most important regional tourism sites and is regarded as an ethnic reserve. Tourists are attracted by the exotic beauty of the local nature and the ethnic flavor of the Ayúu people. For example - "houses on stilts" (huts on stilts, "knee-deep" to the input), boats hollowed out of tree trunks. Due to its close connection with nature, this world is fragile and sensitive to everything new. Ordinary box houses built here destroy it - they spoil the landscape and do not correspond to the local climate (temperature 25-30 degrees, high humidity).
Another problem is social: 50% of the population of the lagoon is under 20 years old, but these young people have nowhere to study. They live here by fishing, agriculture, and crafts. Gracia Romero proposes to build an educational center where young people can learn about fishing, agriculture and environmental management.
The building of the center is based on the local architectural typology and is constructed from scrap and recyclable materials that do not need to be transported from far away: mangrove, reed, recycled concrete and plastic bottles filled with plastic bags. An ingenious solution is economical and environmentally friendly - it removes the environment from civilization wastes polluting it and creates a comfortable microclimate.
The winners in the Barrier-Free Environment nomination were architect Andrzej Leszczynski (Poland) with a project for a multifunctional building for the blind and visually impaired and student Mikhail Hanobyak (Slovakia) with a project for buildings for tourists in the town of Špania Dolina.
The project of a multifunctional center for the blind and visually impaired was created by Andrzej Leszczynski as a work for a master's degree. The complex is inscribed in the relief of the hill of St. Magdalene in the Central Park of Bialystok (Poland), and the passages between its constituent buildings are oriented towards the church standing on the top of the hill. As a result, the small church is clearly visible from different angles from Kievskaya Street, on which the center is located. The volumes look like slate blocks protruding from the ground, cut by mica inserts of windows.
This is literally "barrier-free" architecture. There are no stairs, ascents and descents take place along ramps. The paths have lowered ceilings and are decorated with coatings with improved acoustic characteristics in order to avoid echoes and not create unnecessary noise that can interfere with orientation in space. The buildings are connected by a corridor that runs along one of their sides, so that the rooms are always to the left or right of the person walking down the aisle. This layout is easier to navigate and easier to avoid collisions than in "classic" corridors, where doors are located on both sides.
The center includes retail, educational and office space. Recreation areas in retail and commercial facilities have different temperatures, which allows people to identify them as a safe place. In open space offices, where there are no natural guides and boundaries in the form of partitions and at the same time there are many obstacles, the architect proposes to put relief floor coverings in the aisles, which will determine the direction of movement and signal an obstacle.
Ihal Ganobjak developed the project of the recreation and tourist center Enviropark in Špania Dolina (Slovakia), on the site of a mining village destroyed during the Second World War. The main task set by the author is not to change the existing landscape and the usual visual series.
All buildings resemble simple miners' houses and look like stylized sheds or barracks. They are built with authentic materials: local stone, wood and copper.
Over the glazed fragments of the facades (window openings and roof lights), blinds are installed, which allow you to regulate the illumination and heating of the premises.
And on the ruins of a greenhouse, in the form of the same miner's greenhouse, it is proposed to build a "House for Butterflies" - a metaphorical image of the fragility of nature and natural balance. And this applies to all projects of the MADA competition - "a flap of a butterfly's wing at one end of the globe can cause a hurricane at the other."
