UIA / 1996 UIA PRIZE WINNERS

updated, July 2002

UIA

1996 UIA PRIZE WINNERS

The UIA prizes, created in 1961, are awarded every three years during the UIA World Congress. They are of a thematic nature and are dedicated to the memory of the Union's first Presidents after whom they are name.

1996 Sir Patrick Abercrombie Prize, for town planning and territorial development;

1996 Auguste Perret Prize, for applied technology in architecture;

1996 Jean Tschumi Prize, for the improvement in the quality of human settlements;

1996 Sir Robert Matthew Prize, for the improvement in the quality of human settlements.

As for the Gold Medal, the jury met in Berlin, on 13 and 17 at the German Centre for Architecture (DAZ). It was composed of the members of the UIA Bureau: Jaime Duro Pifarre (Spain), President, Vassilis Sgoutas (Greece) Secretary General, Enrico Milone (Italy) Treasurer, and UIA Vice Presidents Gunnel Adlercreutz (Finland), Moshe Zarhy (Israel), Sara Topelson de Grinberg (Mexico), Kok Leong Chia (Singapore), Salah Zaky Said (Egypt).

1996 SIR PATRICK ABERCROMBIE PRIZE

This prize is awarded to the Mexican architect Juan Gil Elizondo for his leading action in the Xochimilco Ecological Rescue Programme created for the protection of the severely neglected traditional floating gardens, in Mexico
This programme is exemplary as a restoration of traditional ways of life and vernacular agriculture, transforming this deteriorated and polluted area into a vital and efficient agricultural system with clean air and water.
Jury citation:

The skilful planning and restructuring of this vast territory is an example of ecological rescue and town planning on local and urban scale, taking into account the culture, way of life and traditions using today's technologies.

1996 AUGUSTE PERRET PRIZE

This prize is awarded to the German architect Thomas Herzog whose work is a research into the logic of form and organic reflection.
Amongst his numerous works may be cited a series of one-family bioclimatic houses, including the green houses in Berlin, for which the most advanced ideas for the management of energy and ecology have been developed, notably by means of glass lanterns which act as captors and provide interior lighting; the Linz Design Centre (1988-1993), and the extensions to the Wilkahn factories near Hanover (1989-1992).
Jury citation:

For this architect large scale buildings are technological objects. Thomas Herzog very carefully analyses the effects of the latest technologies on construction and highlights the technical dimension. He has made unquestionable contributions in the field of wood construction and energy use, giving buildings a skeleton and a woven structure.

1996 JEAN TSCHUMI PRIZE

Two ex-aequo prizes are awarded:

one to the British architect Peter Cook, one of the undisputed actors of the dynamism in architectural ideas since the sixties.

Jury citation:

Architectural criticism and teaching are the inseparable tools for the promotion of architecture amongst professionals and the general public.

Peter Cook enjoys significant influence on the international scene as an architectural critic. His determination, associated with his creativity, his open-mindedness and his capacity to prompt new ideas and promote new talents at home and abroad, make of him one of the leading figures of contemporary architectural criticism.

the other to the Chinese architect Liangyong Wu, founder in 1946, of the Department of Architecture of the University of Tsinghua, and creator of the first programme for landscape architecture in China. Professor Liangyong Wu is one of the most fervent defenders of the built heritage and of the conservation of natural resources in the P. R. of China.

In the words of Eiliel Saarinen with whom he studied at the Cranbrook Academy of Arts:
"he has instilled his work with something that might be qualified as Chinese modernity. It is not simply an adaptation to a civic development but an adaptation of this development to Chinese life, a mixture of old and new, based on the spirit of China itself which is constant."

The jury decided to award two special mentions. One to the Japanese architectural editor Toshio Nakamura, the other to the Mexican editor COMEX.

1996 SIR ROBERT MATTHEW PRIZE

This prize was awarded to Professor Giancarlo De Carlo (Italy)

Giancarlo De Carlo, a figure of Italian and international architecture for the past forty years is remarkable for his qualities as a theoretician as much as a practitioner. He has taught the social understanding of the city and founded the International Laboratory of Architecture and Urban Design as a forum of ten universities to support this idea. His influence on architectural and town planning thinking is undisputed.

A special mention was awarded by the jury to the German team "Oberste Baubehörde", under the guidance of Benno Brugger of the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior and led by architect Hans Jörg Nussberger,

for its innovative and vaulable work and the creation of the barrier free approach integrating social housing programmes. The "Oberste Baubehörde" has shown the importance of good design and demonstrated that cost efficient construction can be combined with architectural quality as well as ecological and social awareness.