YTAA 2018 Awards Ceremony and Debate Collateral Event of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia

The granting ceremony of Young Talent Architecture Award (YTAA), that brings together the best graduation projects from European architecture, urban planning and landscape schools, was celebrated yesterday 20th September 2018 at Palazzo Michiel in Venice.

The 4 Winners, revealed last June, are:

• Hendrik Brinkmann, College of Architecture, Media and Design Berlin University of the Arts;

• Julio Gotor Valcárcel, Madrid School of Architecture Polytechnic University of Madrid;

• Matthew Gregorowski, The Cass Faculty of Art Architecture & Design London Metropolitan University;

• Loed Stolte, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment Delft University of Technology.

During the Granting Ceremony the award of late Loed Stolte was received by Roberto Cavallo, representative of TU Delft.

YTAA is organised by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe with the support of Creative Europe as an extension of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award. This year the YTAA prize has merged with the European Medal for the best diploma and is organised in partnership with the European Association for Architectural Education (EAAE) and the Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE-CAE). World-Architects is a founding partner; the European Cultural Centre is a partner in Venice; and the award is sponsored by Jung and Jansen; with the support of USM.

This is the second edition of the Award aiming to support the talent of recently graduated Architects, Urban Planners and Landscape Architects, who will be responsible for transforming our environment in the future. YTAA has emerged from an interest in the initial stages of these students’ development and a desire to support their talent as they enter into the professional world.

“As a jury [..] we looked for projects that questioned the problem-solving cliché often found in architectural education and whose thinking had the potential to bring back a set of ethic and social values back to the core of the profession through future practice—understanding that architecture works with complex situations that require broad understanding and action.” - Salomon Frausto, President of the Jury of the YTAA 2018.

Within the framework of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 and the theme of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Freespace, the Awards Ceremony was preceded by two debates focusing on these two key themes in relation to education.

During the first panel, moderated by Oya Atalay Franck (President of EAAE), the YTAA 2018 winners discussed about heritage and architectural education,explaining their experience in tackling heritage in their final degree projects and exposing how this specific topic might be of relevance in their future career. 

“EAAE is proud to join forces with the Fundaciao Mies van der Rohe, and the Architects’ Council of Europe in the Young Talents’ Architecture Award – and even more proud of the results of the competition presented to us today! These award-winning projects are excellent promises, showing inspired and sensitive approaches and strong ideas while embracing the complex issues and wicked problems of built environment - new and old.” - Oya Atalay Franck, President of EAAE.

The second panel, moderated by Massimo Triches from Babau Bureau, focused on the reuse and transformation of buildings and open spaces as a contemporary requirement and as part of a sustainable development strategy. The participants in this panel were young architects who had been highlighted by the Future Architecture Platform, a Creative Europe programme of the European Commission. Together, Tania Tovar Torres (In Articulo Mortis), Miruna Dunu (Coastland) and Babau Bureau (Anatomia Loci) discussed different approaches to heritage and how to face its challenges.

“I am delighted to see during the European Year of Cultural Heritage how young architects embrace cultural heritage issues in their diploma projects, which highlights the close relationship between architecture and heritage in European cities and landscapes. I also welcome the reinforced cooperation the second edition of YTAA has made possible among major European stakeholders in the field of architecture (Mies van der Rohe Foundation, ACE, EAAE, Future Architecture Platform).” - Michel Magnier, Director "Culture and Creativity", DG Education and Culture at the European Commission.

This year the YTAA increased the institutional and geographical span of the award and the number of finalists and winners. Four winners (instead of three) were chosen by an international Jury from a list of twelve finalists. To stimulate the competitiveness and quality of European architectural education, schools from China and South Korea were also invited to participate in YTAA 2018 as guest countries.

The YTAA Winners will be supported in the creation of a network with the architects and critics involved in the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award. To support their professional development, during the Granting Ceremony, the Winners received:

• a commemorative sculpture and a diploma

• 5.000€ to kick off on their careers · visibility through the YTAA 2018 travelling exhibition and the online archive

• a profile in World-Architects.com

• USM furniture to design their work space

• an invitation to participate in the Future Architecture Matchmaking Conference that will take place in Ljubljana in 2019.

Exhibition

The exhibition "Young Talent Architecture Award. YTAA 2018", inaugurated last May 24th at Palazzo Mora, will remain open to the public until November 25th as a Collateral Event of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.

Catalogue

On the occasion of the Granting Ceremony, the Fundació Mies van der Rohe presented the catalogues of the YTAA 2016 and 2018 that incorporate images, plans and information from the Shortlisted, Finalists and Winners. Beside the Young Talents’ projects, the books include some of the graduation projects of renowned architects such as Alvaro Siza, Zaha Hadid or Pieter Bannenberg and Kamiel Klaasse from NL Architects, as well as texts by the jury.