International Architectural Jury Participating in Copenhagen Workshop

On Thursday and Friday the jury for the international architectural competition the EAAE Prize is meeting in Copenhagen to participate in a workshop with the ten selected finalists.

This years theme, Writings in Architectural Education, has resulted in almost 80 architects from around the world giving their ideas on how European architectural study programmes should be designed in future. The international architectural competition is organised by the EAAE (European Association for Architectural Education) and VELUX.

A number of internationally renowned architects are gathering on Thursday and Friday in Copenhagen to present and discuss the ten selected entries for one of the world¿s biggest architectural competitions. Lecturers at schools of architecture throughout Europe, the USA and Canada have been invited to give their proposals on how the demands of the information society will affect the demand for know-how and knowledge-sharing at the architectural schools.

The ten selected contributors have also been invited to Copenhagen to participate in the workshop where they will be challenged and inspired to further develop their proposals for the architectural study programmes of the future. Among the finalists are lecturers from schools of architecture in the USA, Norway, the UK, Canada, Turkey and Denmark. The final winners of the competition will be announced in February-March 2005.

In addition to presenting the finalists¿ proposals, the five jury members will each give a lecture based on the architectural study programmes of the future. The jury members include the well-known German architect Dagmar Richter who won second place for her verdigris green design for The Royal Library in Copenhagen which was entered for an architectural competition in 1993, as well as the Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa, who has attracted considerable attention in Denmark by asserting, on the basis of historical research, that Danish architecture is in the process of losing its unsurpassed and distinctive style. The chairman of the jury is the Norwegian architect Per Olaf Fjeld.
Almost 80 architects from 23 countries are participating in the competition which is worth EUR 25,000 in prize money or DKK 185,000 ¿ and which is sponsored by VELUX. The underlying reason for holding the competition is to acquire specific ideas for the future development of architectural study programmes.

The competition is being arranged by the EAAE (European Association for Architectural Education) and is open to all European architectural schools. As a new initiative, approx. 450 schools in the USA and Canada have also been invited to participate in the competition.The EAAE Prize 2003-2005
The EAAE Prize aims to improve the quality of architectural education in Europe.
The EAAE (European Association for Architectural Education) includes 150 schools of architecture in Europe and represents more than 140,000 architectural students. In addition to its own member schools, the EAAE has invited a further 150 schools of architecture in Europe and 140 schools in the USA and Canada to participate in the competition. The EAAE Prize was first awarded in 1991 and has been sponsored by VELUX since 2001.
Read more at www.eaae.be

VELUX
Living beings are unable to develop and thrive without daylight. Likewise, the fresh air we breathe and the views of our surroundings are crucial for our welfare. This philosophy underlies everything we do at VELUX uniting natural resources with human needs. For almost 60 years we have been endeavouring to fulfil our objective of improving the home environment for people worldwide. Our core product is VELUX roof windows and skylights which are today internationally known and registered trade marks in more than 70 countries, most of them EAAE countries. VELUX's daily activities are closely associated with architecture and involve communicating and collaborating with many architects worldwide.
Read more about VELUX at www.VELUX.com

Jury
Per Olaf Fjeld (Chairman)
The chairman of the prize jury, the Norwegian architect Per Olaf Fjeld who is a professor at the Oslo School of Architecture, trained from 1973-75 with the highly respected Norwegian architect Sverre Fehn. This marked the start of an impressive career for Per Olaf Fjeld who in addition to his associations with a number of European and American universities has designed Oslo City Museum and the Theatre Museum in Oslo. Moreover, Per Olaf Fjeld has taught at the University of Aarhus.

Dagmar Richter
In the international competition to design The Royal Library in Copenhagen in 1993, the German architect Dagmar Richter won second place for her proposal to house The Royal Library in a copper-clad building which, with its position beside the harbour, could match the verdigris green of Copenhagen¿s towers. Today Dagmar Richter is a professor at the Southern California Institute of Architecture. Her drawings and ideas have been exhibited at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

Juhani Pallasmaa
The Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa has been following developments within Danish architecture since 1957, and in his book Young Danish Architecture and Design he questions whether Danish architecture has lost its characteristic style. Moreover, he has drawn up a proposal for developing an area in Ørestaden as a canal town where all the buildings are sunk down beneath the horizontal line of the water surface. Juhani Pallasmaa is currently a professor at the University of Helsinki.

Alberto Pérez-Goméz
This Mexican-born architect lives in Canada, working as a professor of architectural history at the McGill University in Montreal. He has taught at universities in Mexico, the UK, France, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Sweden and in the USA.

Peter MacKeith
Peter MacKeith is vice-rector of the School of Architecture at Washington University in St Louis, the USA. Over the years he has won various prizes for his projects. Among other things, Peter MacKeith is well known for his books about the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, and in a Danish context he is interesting because he has organised student exchanges between his institute and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture in Copenhagen.