Architecture: Buildings Under 1,000SqM - AZ Awards

The finalists

Architecture ◆ Buildings Under 1,000SqM

Are

Finalist

Project

Breitenbach Landscape Hotel – 48° Nord

Location

Breitenbach, France

Firms

Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter (Norway), ASP Architecture (France)

Summary

Tall like sentinels, multi-faceted like boulders, or squat like a woodsman’s hut, the various forms of the 14 freestanding guest suites that make up the Breitenbach Landscape Hotel, a deconstructed retreat in the Alsatian hills, offer serene views onto the surrounding foliage. The buildings are united in their material makeup and light-on-the-ground poise; clad in shingles hewn from the wood of local chestnut trees and refined in a workshop in Saverne, the structures rest on stilts, so that, in time, they can be discreetly removed. The project honours the landscape without spoiling it.

Finalist

Project

Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls School

Location

Jaisalmer, India

Firm

Diana Kellogg Architects, U.S.

Summary

Female literacy in Rajasthan’s Thar Desert region currently sits at 32 per cent — but if this new school commissioned by non-profit CITTA has anything to do with it, that number will soon be a lot higher. Built entirely out of Jaisalmer sandstone by community craftspeople, the school’s elliptical design — a reference to both sand dunes and the infinite power of feminine strength — nods to local vernacular with its sun-blocking jali screens. Indoor fans deliver an additional way to beat the heat, and in one of the project’s many sustainability considerations, they are powered entirely by a rooftop solar panel canopy. Talk about a meaningful lesson in design.

Finalist

Project

Recreation Center in Athis-Mons

Location

Athis-Mons, France

Firm

Graal Architecture, France

Summary

Architects Carlo Grispello and Nadine Lebeau of the French firm Graal Architecture describe their new recreation centre in Athis-Mons, a commune south of Paris’s core, as a “basic facility.” This descriptor applies to both the rooms themselves — workshop spaces, a training kitchen and a multi-purpose room, all sparsely furnished to ensure maximum flexibility — and to the glass windows and cement flooring. But basicness doesn’t preclude beauty. The exterior walls of the centre are clad in curved rose–grey concrete panels, which shimmer and ripple like the nearby Seine.

And

Architecture ◆ Buildings Under 1,000SqM

The Winner

+ The People’s Choice

Winner & People’s Choice

Project

Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls School

Location

Jaisalmer, India

Firm

Diana Kellogg Architects, U.S.

Diana Kellogg: 2021 AZ Award Winner in Buildings Under 1000SqM

“I wanted to create a building about light and community — a structure that resonates with the soul of its people and enforces the natural energies to nurture and heal the women and girls,” Diana Kellogg says. The New York architect has done just that with the Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls School, a resplendent haven in a region of India where female literacy is barely above 30 per cent. The pro bono project serves 400 girls from below the poverty line within an oval form that references femininity and infinity — and the dunes of its desert home.

The school is made of regionally available stone — Dabri veneer and Jodhpur — and was built with the help of its future students’ parents. Local craft and tradition informed its main features, including a parapet wall that reinvents the jali screen (a privacy device for women) and circulates air while keeping out sand and direct sunlight. The building’s orientation also helps mitigate intense solar gain while maximizing prevailing wind.

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