Young Architect of the Year Awards 2010, YAYA, BD

Young Architect of the Year Awards, YAYA, Results, Architects, Finalists, Images

BD Young Architect of the Year Award 2010

Winners : Building Design Architecture Prize, London, UK

Young Architect of the Year – YAYA 2010

Serie Architects has won this year’s prestigious Young Architect of The Year Award (YAYA).

Open to all architects under the age of 40,YAYA is organised by the leading architectural weekly BD. It was established to celebrate the talents of the next generation of architects. Recent YAYA winners have included Hackett Hall McKnight, Carmody Groake and Nord.

Image: ’The Tote’,Mumbai, Indai by Serie Architects
The Tote Mumbai
photograph from Caro

Steve Tompkins, partner of Haworth Tompkins, who was on the Young Architect of The Year Award jury, commented: “Serie has demonstrated that it is prepared to tackle the big urban issues head-on. I would love to see them build to scale”.

Serie Architects were established in 2007 by Christopher Lee and Kapil Gupta. They were shortlisted for a YAYA a year later in 2008 but it was this year they that they received winning recognition from the judging panel.

The practice now has 14 staff spread between offices in London, Mumbai, Chengdu and Beijing. It was their ambitious scale of work that wowed the judges along with some beautifully crafted models. The practice recently completed a conversion of a banqueting hall in Mumbai called ‘The Tote’. A series of disused colonial buildings set within a Race Course were transformed into a banquet hall, bar and restaurant. The striking design of the building was inspired by rain trees, which stand on the site, the architects incorporated an impressive steel branch structure within the build to mirror them.

Serie also demonstrated an impressive ability to produce a varied portfolio for competitions. They recently won two housing contests in Bratislava, Slovakia, one of which was to design 440 apartments and resulted in a cluster of three high density towers of varying heights, the another a set of luxury suburban villas.

Their proposals for Chinese projects also impressed with a concept for a horticultural park in Xi’an and a project to renovate a factory in Hangzhou as part of a new urban core. The firm decided to preserve the unique16 ft tall main hall of the factory and to accentuate the industrial drama of this massive void by restoring the concrete truss roof structure and by bringing additional light down through a newly glazed lantern.

BD editor, Ellis Woodman commented: “ The YAYA award has proved remarkably sure footed in it’s ability to spot emerging talent. Recent winners Nord have gone onto to build the 2012 Olympic park whilst Carmody Groake last year realised the memorial to the victims of the 7/7 bombings. We’re confident that Serie Architects will be the next to be making headlines.”

The winner of the YAYA 2010 was announced at The Architect of the Year Award dinner ceremony at The Intercontinental Hotel, London Park Lane on November 4th. They will receive the YAYA trophy and a consultation package from PR agency Caro Communications.

Architect of the Year Award – Background
The distinguished panel of YAYA judges includes: Margaret Howell, Fashion designer and Architecture patron. Steve Tomkins of Haworth Tompkins, Elliott Hodges from Foreign Office Architects and Fran Tonkiss from the LSE Cities Programme.

Other shortlisted architects for Young Architect of The Year Award 2010 were Erect Architects, Space Group Architects, Moxon Architects and Design Research Unit Wales.

BD’s Architect of the Year Award (YAYA) is rewarded annually at The Architect of the Year Awards. The Architecture Foundation presented Young Architect of the Year 2009.
The Architecture Foundation hosted an exhibition of the Young Architect of the Year Award (YAYA) shortlist.

YAYA 2009

Young Architect of the Year Award winner – 2009 : David Kohn Architects

Recognising emerging British and Irish practices, the Young Architect of The Year Award exhibition took place 2 – 23 October in the AF’s new project space, designed by YAYA 2007 winner, Carmody Groarke.

Sarah Ichioka, Director of The Architecture Foundation said: “YAYA, with Building Design’s backing, is an important platform to showcase the UK and Ireland’s most promising new architects, something that The Architecture Foundation has held as a core aim for the past twenty years. In 2009 this priority is more important than ever, given the downturn in the industry. The award, and the exhibition in the AF’s new Project Space, will allow us to evaluate the key merits, including innovation and resourcefulness, that these emerging practitioners exemplify.”

The YAYA winner was presented at a dinner on 5 Nov 2009. Previous Young Architect of The Year Award winners include Hackett Hall McKnight (2008), Carmody Groarke (2007), Nord Architecture (2006), Lynch Architects (2005), Querkraft (2004), De Paor Architects (2003), Plasma Studio (2002), Oman & Videcnik (2001), Andrew Wright (2000), Camenzind Grafensteiner (1999), Niall McLaughlin (1998).
Joining Sarah Ichioka on the Young Architect of The Year Award jury will be Charles Saumarez Smith, Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts, London; Moritz Küng, Chief Curator, de Singel Arts Centre, Antwerp; Ivan Harbour, Director of Rogers Stirk Harbour Architects; Crispin Kelly, Director of Baylight Properties, London; and Simon Conder, Principle, Simon Conder Associates, London and Suffolk.

The YAYA exhibition was at The Architecture Foundation, London

YAYA : Architect of the Year Awards – main page

BD Architect of the Year Awards – Winners 2007

Location: UK

Architecture Awards

Stirling Prize

RIBA Awards

BCO Awards

Young Architect of the Year Award Winner 2007 : Carmody Groarke

The Architect of the Year Awards are organised by Building Design magazine, in co-operation with Building and Property Week magazines, to identify and reward the most outstanding architects across a range of different types of design work.

Wood Awards

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Young Architect of the Year Awards 2010 – page

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