The Jury 2022
Claes Caldenby, professor emeritus in the Theory and History of Architecture, Chalmers University of Technology.
Caldenby’s practice has mainly involved teaching, and writing about, architecture for architecture students as well as for laymen. He is also, now counting on 45 years, one of the editors of Arkitektur, the Swedish review of architecture.
On architecture: It is all around us, as opposed to artifacts from other arts, we cannot get around or do without it. Architecture is not only new buildings, but the maintenance of the existing stock of buildings. In the ecologist Stewart Brand’s words “A building is not something you finish, it is something you start” we are reminded of the task ahead in a sustainable, reuse society.
For some decades now there has been a very strong focus on “the urban norm” and on densification and large cities. But by necessity of a sustainable survival, we live in a culture of town and country. This is what the recent return to an interest in the rural and the rurban or rural/urban is about. As a co-author of the manifesto, I believe it is important to find synergy between all the five criteria presented in an Architecture of Necessity.
Nils Björling, Architect SAR/MSA, PhD, Senior lecturer in Urban Design and Planning, Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology.
Björling’s architectural practice investigates urban design and planning from the perspectives of local and regional development, as a researcher within the research group Urban and Regional Transformation. One focus for his teaching and research is the dynamics between different scales and everyday life in the regional urban landscape.
On architecture: We need to view the built environment as one of the most critical tools we have for providing the conditions for sustainability. In everyday life architecture both creates possibilities and constraints generating potential for our societies to evolve. Equally, everyday life in these evolving societies creates new conditions for spatial transformation and architectural expressions.
The Rurban hybrid condition of rural and urban logics is here of special interest and can be used as a conceptual tool to move beyond an urban dominance in contemporary planning, design, and architecture. Furthermore, it can be used as a critical standpoint to rethink both the urban and rural qualities in their own right.
Marine Miroux, architect DPLG, currently working at ZRS Architekten Ingenieure
Marine is a project leader for sustainable construction projects in Germany and internationally, specialized in the design stage of architectural urban planning and of rehabilitation projects. She has special knowledge and understanding of intercultural cooperation projects in Africa and the Middle East and was a part of the multi-disciplinary team who developed and completed the awarded Trauma Therapy Centre and Healing Garden in Kurdistan-Iraq. Marine studied at the ENSA Paris-Belleville and at the Technical University Berlin. She is responsible for the architectural competitions at ZRS.
On architecture: Rurban initially described the mixing of urban and rural patterns of behaviour and social structures on the edges of big cities. We find today’s wider meaning, including the reintroduction of local customs into very urban areas using short cycles, local building materials, on-site recycling or re-use, reversibility and/or overlaying of uses at one place interesting. It can trigger, beyond some responses to the climate disruption, significant economic and social change.
Leon Radeljić, M.Sc. Architecture, currently working at ZRS Architekten Ingenieure
Leon is a project leader for sustainable construction projects in Germany and internationally. He is a trained carpenter and studied at Technical University Berlin. Beside his work as a project architect, he has worked on several research projects on sustainable and recycled materials and construction methods funded by the European Union. He is published and lectures involved in lecturing and publication activities. were part of the multi-disciplinary team who developed and completed the Trauma Therapy Centre and Healing Garden in Kurdistan-Iraq, which was awarded in 2019.
On architecture: With its status as the world’s largest consumer of non-renewable energy resources, the construction industry is directly responsible for the dramatic state of our planet and the rapidly deteriorating climate. As designers we see it as our responsibility to minimise our societies reliance on our planet’s finite fossil resources.
In pursuit of this aim we have developed our key competency in the use of natural building materials, primarily timber, earth soil and bamboo. With ambitious clients and partners our projects aim to promote the innovative usage of local and renewable materials both at home and abroad.
Ogmund Sørli Partner Pir II – Architect MNAL
Ogmund has more than 30 years’ experience in designing and executing complex construction projects, he is a construction engineer and master architect. With a central role in many of Pir II’s most extensive and complex projects, requiring advanced engineering, his fostering of a creative, interdisciplinary attitude is essential. Ogmund is a Pir II founding partner.
On architecture: We need to begin shifting the building industry from linear use and production, towards sustainable production based on recycling and reuse, architects play a major role in this process. Sustainably is not only about greenhouse gas emissions – it is also about making attractive and livable neighborhoods engaging users in the development process. We must strive to build better environments, that are prepared for future reuse.
For me, rural development is perhaps even more important than rurban, but I still think we need to rurbanise our cities to a greater extent, to be able to feed the growing urban population on earth. With increasing populations architecture needs to address less nature and food producing land areas. This is a problem that can only be improved by transparent dialogues between users, researchers, planners (architects++) and politicians.
Katy Chada, Partner Pir II – Architect MNAL
Katy’s core competences are idea- and project development, designing universal use houses, process management and illustration/visualization. Katy works strategically from the initial concept phase until project implementation, optimizing resources by applying a holistic view. During 2015-17, Katy was the general manager of Pir II, Trondheim.
She lives on a farm using permaculture principles and circular thinking. Katy’s architectural practice is informed by expertise in ecological economics, urban ecology, nature-based water and sewage systems, the use of renewable energy and the ecological construction of cycle houses.
On architecture: Architecture impacts our lives today in every way and is increasingly important in the harsher conditions caused by climate change. We need to widen the dialogue, making it collaborative among people from overlapping fields joined by their shared interest in exploring better life conditions for a healthier planet. I think the potential for change lies in the society.
At Pir II we strive to achieve the synergy of all the five design criteria mentioned in the manifesto for an Architecture of Necessity. We focus on local identity and material use, experimenting with approaches on sustainability and blending high-tech and low-cost solutions in a wide range of building typologies.