A new international award, founded this year by prominent Canadian architect Raymond Moriyama and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC), recognizes buildings that improve the lives of the community for which they were erected. An important feature of the award: buildings that were commissioned at least 2 years ago and have already proven their effectiveness in the process of use can apply for it.
For a new award
About which we wrote in detail earlier, architects from only 9 countries submitted applications, which is unexpectedly small, given the size of the prize money: its amount of 100,000 Canadian dollars (about 90,000 US dollars) makes the Moriyama RAIC International Prize one of the most "generous" architectural awards in the world.
The first building to be awarded, the Liyuan Library in Jiaoziehe Village, Huairou County, near Beijing, was built in 2012 by architect Li Xiaodong. It is located not in the center of the village, but on its edge, in a spectacular landscape environment, so there you can not only read, but also admire the nature. In addition, according to the author of the project, if in order to read a book, you need to go some way - even if it is 5 minutes long - the head becomes clearer at the same time.
The appearance of the library is emphatically modest: the openings in the wooden frame are filled with brushwood, for better insulation with an added layer of glass; the resulting lattice of sticks filters the sunlight illuminating the interior. The budget for the 175 m2 construction was about USD 160,000.
During the selection process for the award-winning building, the jury visited the award-nominated buildings and spoke to their “users”. In the case of the Liyuan library, it turned out that it is not only very popular with local residents, but - as it was intended - attracts tourists from Beijing and from abroad. Due to the flow of visitors, we even had to arrange a special bus stop nearby. The library works on the principle of "book exchange": you bring one, or better - two of your books and you can take one library with you.
Li Xiaodong, whose buildings of a similar type - in rural areas and with a social burden - have already received WAF prizes and
The Aga Khan Foundation calls its method of work "reflective regionalism." Instead of inventing original forms, he emphasizes the original conditions of a specific task, while Li Xiaodong tries to combine "technology, local participation, local materials, modern approach and traditional understanding of identity."
It is worth noting that among the prizes and awards of Li Xiaodong there is also a somewhat unexpected award for the architect - "Person of the Year" according to the Chinese version of GQ (2011).
