Blue Award, an International Competition for Students

Thursday, 05 November 2009 13:31

Blue_awards_01 Organized by the Faculty of Architecture at the Vienna University of Technology, the Department of Spatial and Sustainable Design, the BLUE AWARD, an international student competition for sustainable architecture. Submissions will be accepted starting November 10 and is open to architecture students worldwide!

Sustainable development, with its economical, cultural and social dimensions in architecture and urbanism, should be given the same value and attention as the classical problems of technique and function. The language of contemporary architecture is to experience a fundamental change under this influence.

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The BLUE Award Competition pursues the following objectives:

* the BLUE Award wants to recognize the commitment of students and tutors who have made the competition’s topic part of their teachings and education.

* the BLUE Award intends to organize a collection of student design work which addresses the issue of sustainability in architecture.

* the BLUE Award shall provide an impulse for improving teachings in the area of sustainability.

* the BLUE Award aims at making possible and intensifying the exchange between different faculties and architecture schools on an international level.

The BLUE Award will be handed out in three categories:

* Urban Transformation and Development
The emphasis of this category spans from urban redevelopment, renewal, and restructuring of existing city fabric to development of new housing structures and typologies. Concepts dealing with self-sufficient housing developments, environment friendly forms of mobility, and new interpretations of open/public spaces in urban areas are equally important to this category.

* Building with Ecological Systems
Sustainable building touches upon the entire act of form-giving. Submitted projects are to reveal the basic principles of sustainable planning and construction, including its social, economical and ecological factors, in the form of an architectonic design.

* Building in Existing Structures
The topics of this category are methods of renovation, adaptation and conversion. Beyond these usual themes, projects will be awarded which succeed in increasing signifi cantly the average longevity and usage capacity of existing structures, as well as projects which reduce the volumetric demand of new construction.

An international jury, presided by Prof. Thomas Herzog, will choose the prize winners in each of the three categories. The awards ceremony will take place in April 2010 at the Vienna University of Technology.

The winning entries will be presented to the public in an exhibition and published catalogue.

For further information visit
the website: www.blueaward.at
or the blog: blueaward.blogspot.com