W Award 2008-2009
European architectural Competition
The Wilmotte Foundation renews for 2008-2009 the W Award competition. The competition endeavours to consciously encourage the importance of preserving European heritage and its evolution in a contemporary world by the idea of an architectural "graft".
The competition is aimed at students and newly qualified young European architects. The theme of this year's competition is to requalify a site of a water tower in Latina Italy, a recent heritage, which has to be integrated into an urban, landscaped setting.
The prizes and burseries are deliberated by an international jury, composed of professionals, architects , artists and well known journalists.
The 2008-2009 competition theme
The site of a water tower from the 1970's, is to be requalified. A new office building of 2000m² envisaged will provide an opportunity for candidates to write a new chapter on the "architectural graft", the foundation's key interest.
This year's theme is beyond the traditional pattern, it is rooted in the recent heritage of the twentieth century and open to participants of the prospects for interesting designs.
Calendar
- Closure of competition registration: 15th September 2008
- Project entry closure: 15th October 2008
- Jury: 16th january 2009
- Prize: October 2009
Participant conditions
Individual entries architectural profile or by team of two. Open to students and newly qualified architects, after the 31st of December 2004, qualified in the European Union and Switzerland.
Prize
1st prize: 7000 Euros scholarship.
2nd prize: 5000 Euros scholarship.
3rd prize: 2000 Euros scholarship.
Selection criteria
1. Strategy
2. Innovation
3. Feasibility
4. Overall quality of the graft
The town of Latina in Italy
The new town of 180000 inhabitants, situated 50 kilometres south of Rome, was built during the Italian town planning movement of the 1930's, after the draining of the wetlands.
The city earned its character mainly from the architectural style in the 1930's, especially its astonishing regularity. The urban planning and built environment are wonderfully brought together through clear aesthetic principles and social values prevailing in Italy in the first half of the twentieth century. The road from the historic Piazza del Quadrato to the Piazza della Liberta is a fine example of style that inspired design, and has survived to this day.