The Light of la Rochelle
Thursday and Friday this week, 24 students of architecture will be exploring the streets of La Rochelle, trying to capture the light of the city on film.
They do this as part of a workshop arranged by the VELUX Group, the company behind the two major events in La Rochelle this coming weekend, the race start of VELUX 5 OCEANS and the award ceremony of the International VELUX Award 2010 for Students of Architecture.
The 24 young people filming in La Rochelle are the winners and honourable mentions of the International VELUX Award 2010. To give the students a chance to get to know each other and work together, the VELUX Group has invited them to participate in a two-day workshop before the award event. Louise Grønlund, who won the International VELUX Award 2006 and is now a PhD student in daylight at the Danish School of Architecture in Århus, will lead the workshop.
"The intention of the workshop is to explore the students' different ways of seeing and perceiving light. They come from all parts of the world and represent very different perceptions of the role of light in architecture. For instance, in Nordic architecture we crave for light as opposed to Southern Europe, where architecture is more likely to focus on keeping the light out. When these different perspectives meet, we hope to create an interesting film about the light of La Rochelle, expressing the diversity, the changeability and texture of light," explains Louise Grønlund.
During the two-day workshop, the students will be filming in La Rochelle, alternating with discussions in plenum at the hotel St. Jean d'Acre that frames the students' stay in La Rochelle. The film about the light of La Rochelle will be shown at the award event in Espace Encan on Saturday night, where more than 700 invited guests from all over the world are expected to celebrate the "lights of tomorrow".
The award organisers from the VELUX Group emphasise the importance of working with the future generations of architects:
"We are always delighted by the ideas and reflections put forward by the students. It is impressive how they respond to the theme of daylight and the amount of energy they put into their projects. Seen over the years the projects submitted for the International VELUX Award provide a great pool of inspiration from the architects of tomorrow, who will frame the discussions not only about daylight but also about sustainable living in the future," says Per Arnold Andersen from the International VELUX Award.
On the harbour between Espace Encan and the VELUX 5 OCEANS race village, the VELUX Group has set up VELUX House, representing the company's vision of sustainable living in energy-neutral, prefabricated homes. The house is open to the public from 9-18.00
About VELUX Group
The VELUX Group creates better living environments with daylight and fresh air through the roof. The VELUX product programme contains a wide range of roof windows and skylights, along with solutions for flat roofs. The Group also supplies many types of decoration and sun screening, roller shutters, installation products, products for remote control and thermal solar panels for installation in roofs. The VELUX Group, which has manufacturing companies in 11 countries and sales companies in just under 40 countries, represents one of the strongest brands in the global building materials sector and its products are sold in most parts of the world. The VELUX Group has about 10,000 employees and is owned by VKR Holding A/S, a limited company wholly owned by foundations and family. For more details,www.velux.com