Cityscape Dubai 2006 got off to a glittering start when the winners of the Cityscape Dubai 2006 Architectural Review Awards were announced during a gala dinner, held at the Nad Al Sheba Club in Dubai. The prize-giving ceremony was the culmination of months of debate and consideration by an international panel of judges, who named the final twelve award winners.
“The winners exemplified a commitment to quality of design and architecture that was both sensitive and complementary to culture and the environment in the developing world,” said Paul Finch, Editor, Architectural Review.
Eligible entries for the awards ceremony were separated into two broad categories. Firstly, buildings which have already been completed and secondly, projects that are incomplete or may be even still on the drawing board. The actual awards themselves were subsequently split into five distinct categories: commercial/mixed-use, community, which includes religious and public buildings, leisure, residential and transport.
In addition a number of special awards were bestowed by the judges which included The Environmental Award, handed to the one completed project that above all others, embraced specific environmental issues. The Islamic Architecture Award was awarded to the project that showed particular empathy and understanding for Islamic values. The Master Planning Award was dedicated to the scheme that the judges feel is the best master-planned community.
A distinguished panel of judges, who had previously met in October to draw up a shortlist of candidates, was represented by Paul Finch, Editor, The Architectural Review UK; Dr. Sultan Ozkan, Secretary General Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Switzerland; Jack Pringle, President Royal Institute of Architects (RIBA), UK; Dr Fathi Rifki, Dean of Architecture at the American University of Sharjah, UAE; Raj Rewal, Raj Rewal Associates, India; Ken Yeang, Llewellyn Davies Yeang, Malaysia.
“The awards celebrate exceptional works of distinction that can be used as blue-prints for the future. The judges had a very difficult task, so many entries excelled with invention and imagination, respect for humanity and environmental awareness,” said Rohan Marwaha, Group Development Director, Cityscape Dubai.
The Cityscape Architectural Review Awards which is now firmly established as a significant annual event on the global architectural calendar was sponsored by Swarovski, Pacific Controls, Eurolever, Martin Architectural, Hard Precast and Crystal Arc.
The full list of winners:
Residential Built – Joint winners
Vineyard House, Victoria, Australia
Winner: John Wardle of John Wardle Pty. Ltd
Set within a large vineyard, this residence translates a move from city to country. The residence is constructed from rammed earth and exposed raw timbers. The client’s viticultural activities predated their decision to move from Melbourne to live on this site. Explorations were directed by an understanding of alignment between the existing industry on the site and their habitation.
Gilstead Brooks, Gilstead, Singapore
Winner: Richard Wollaston Hassell of Woha Design Pte. Ltd
This project investigates the possibilities of high-density, low-rise communities in the tropics. Some 28 affordable houses are created on the site of two old suburban houses. Communal recreational facilities are intensively developed between houses that offer both privacy and spatial flow. Environmental filters are used to permit both cross-ventilation and privacy. The design successfully achieves the aims of creating elegant, naturally ventilated small homes in a contemporary garden environment.
Residential Future
Doha Gardens, Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia
Winner: Nabil Gholam of Nabil Gholam Architecture & Planning
The programme consists of 188 apartment units in six general typologies, served by communal amenities: ground level garden flats, affordable simplexes, maisonette style duplexes, luxurious courtyards and penthouse duplexes.
The project adopts the required ‘Islamic’ identity through subtle re-interpretation of cultural specifications of the urban, architectural and functional realms. The project succeeds in creating a model for a sustainable, socio-cultural, climatically and historical contextual development, exportable and adaptable to many other sites across the Islamic Gulf.
Commercial/Mixed Use Built
Corporate Office, Bangalore, India
Winner: Nisha Mathew Ghosh of Mathew & Ghosh Architects
This is a building that attempts to work around the idea of splicing the self-contained urban box with light wedges that functionally divide the block into three independent segments. Each bay has been designed as a structurally self-contained one, allowing continuous expanses of glass. Within this urban box there is a private realm that opens itself to the outside selectively and as the clouds go by, the inside of the building takes innumerable nuances of sunlight in all its shades of colour.
Commerical/Mixed Use Future
Doha Souks, Doha, Qatar
Winner – Nabil Gholam of Nabil Gholam Architecture & Planning
The Doha Souk is a modern mall as a reinterpretation of a traditional khan-like souk typology. It is organised around a freed- up central space that is lushly landscaped and is designed as a main part of the eco-friendly air conditioning system of the project. The project creates a unique setting internally that encourages work, shopping and leisure without making any concessions to the natural or social environments.
Leisure/Hotels Built
ESO Hotel, Cerro Paranal, Chile
Winner: Fritz Auer of Auer & Weber Architekten
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) operates the Very Large Telescope on the Cerro Paranal, a mountain in the northern part of the Atacama Desert in Chile.
The VLT is the world’s most powerful earth-based telescope. Beneath the summit, lies the hotel for the ESO scientists and engineers who work here on a roster system. The hotel complex fits snugly into an existing depression in the ground acting as a support wall. The emphasis on reflecting nature sets the hotel in direct and deliberate contrast to the high-tech telescope complex atop Cerro Paranals summit.
Leisure/Hotels Future
Acropolis Universe Resort, Dubai, UAE
Winner: Stepfan Behnisch of Behnisch Architekten
The Acropolis Universe Resort park concept combines elements of a typical theme park with digital interactive games and activities, and galleries where toy manufacturers will display their range of products. The emphasis of the project is on providing a leisure park for families, and particularly children. Beyond this the park will foster a new perception and understanding of nature and its laws. The visitors will be able to experience the influence of the sun, wind, and other factors of local climate conditions. The park will be a positive example of what can be achieved today when a sustainable design approach is chosen.
Community Built – Joint Winners
Square Four Public Garden, Beirut, Lebanon
Winner: Vladimir Djurovic of Vladimir Djurovic Landscape Architecture
Inspired by the existence of historic fiscus trees that have withstood the test of time and witnessed all that has passed before them, the concept begins to unfold itself. The composition revolved around framing two central trees that embrace, protect, and narrate the entire concept of this public garden. The intent is to provide people with an intimate and memorable space in which, even if for a moment, one can be in the middle of it all, yet at the same time escape away from it all.
Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, Turkey
Winner: Melkan and Murat Gursel of Tabanlioglu Architecture and Consulting
Istanbul Modern is the city’s first museum of contemporary art. Located on the banks of the Bosphorus, the gallery has been converted from a 1960, former Port Authority warehouse by Tabanlioglu. Its exterior is a forbidding, rectilinear, grey concrete slab. Inside, its two huge galleries, each of 4000 square metres, retain an industrial feel. It has been divided into smaller spaces by suspended screens that appear to float just above the floor, so creating a neutral ground that strives to complement the art work.
Community Future – no winner – 2 short-listed
SIEEB - Tsinghua University, Beijing – China
Short-listed: Mario Cucinella of Mario Cucinella Architects sri
The SIEBB project is the result of cooperation between the Ministry for Environment and Territory of the Republic of Italy and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Peoples Republic of China. It is regarded as a platform to develop the bilateral long-term cooperation in the environment and energy fields, and also a model case for showing the CO2 emission reduction potential in the building sector in China. The SIEBB building shape derives from the analysis of the site and of the specific climatic conditions of the Beijing. The building optimises the need for solar energy in winter and for solar protection in summer.
Tetrahedron, Astana, Kazakhstan
Short-listed: Melkan and Murat Gursel of Tabanlioglu Architecture & Consulting
The facets of the Tetrahedron should be like a jewel from the Orient. Metal facades change colour according to the light of the day and of the season. Inside the building is the new social and cultural centre of Astana – a “meeting point”. It combines conference facilities, a museum, library, university, retail outlets, restaurant and café bars.
Transport Built
Western Transportation Terminal, Putrajaya, Malaysia
Winner: David Mirzan Hashim of Veritas Architects Sdn. Bhd
Designed as an integrated transportation hub that brings together multiple modes of public transport under one roof, the Western Transportation Terminal serves as the gateway to Putrajaya, the new administrative capital of Malaysia. The terminal complex includes the Putrajaya station for the high-speed airport express shuttle train, a local monorail station, commuter and local bus terminal and taxi station.
Transport Future
Galataport, Istanbul, Turkey
Winner: Melkan and Murat Gersel of Tabanlioglu Architecture & Consulting
Located at a crucial point in Istanbul, and having survived many centuries as the sea gate to Istanbul, the Galata Port will acquire different functions under the new project, and will add a new value to Istanbul as a centre of culture, tourism and commerce. The architectural design undertakes the functions that will provide commercial income for those sections of the 1.2km shoreline, which remains outside the customs zone.
SPECIAL PRIZES
Environment
Ministry of Tourism, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Winner: Mario Cucinella of Mario Cucinella Architects sri
This project combines ideas taken from climatic design and traditional Middle Eastern art and architecture. The building is ‘deep plan’ to maximise the occupation of the site area. The floor plate is pierced by a series of gardens and towers that bring fresh air and natural light down into the buildings plan. A strong façade faces the street, protecting a lush garden within. The hidden garden is like an oasis providing a protected natural environment and a microclimate for the office workers.
Islamic Architecture
Al Hasani Madrasa & Mosque, Old Damascus, Syria
Winner: Wael Samhouri of Wael Samhouri Architects
The Madrasa and Mosque of Sheikh Badr al-Din al-Hasani in Damascus is an international institution of higher education for religious scholars and preachers. It is located on the southern edge of the historic centre of the city. A tall, elegant, white building with an intricate play of openings plus a domed cube and a slender minaret to the side, the madrasa is faithful both to its modernistic impulses and historic references.
Master Planning
Dubai Light Rail Project, Dubai, UAE
Winner: Chris Williamson of Weston Williamson Architects
For visitors and residents of Dubai the LRT should appear as an icon of the modern city whether they are regular or occasional users of the new transport system. The stations, bridges and viaducts are designed with the construction process in minds so that they will be beautifully crafted to make a stylish contribution to the international reputation of Dubai as one of the world’s leading cities.
