Hanover, Germany—The winners of the contractworld.award 2009 have now been selected. Following two days of consultation, a panel of leading professionals has decided which projects will be awarded the prestigious European architecture prize for interior design. 

A total of 570 projects from 36 countries were competing for prize money totaling 60,000 euros. The contractworld.award is presented each year for innovative interior design concepts in the categories “Offices / Administration buildings”, “Hotels / Spas / Catering facilities”, “Shops / Showrooms / Exhibition stands” and “Change of use / Conversion”. The contractworld.award is not only Europe’s leading competition of its kind - it is also the most valuable award for architecture and interior design and is now a firm fixture in the international world of architecture and design. Three outstanding projects from each of the four categories will receive a contractworld.award for 2009. The position of the winning entries (first, second and third) will not be officially announced until the award presentation on 17th January 2009 at DOMOTEX HANNOVER 2009 (January 17 to 20, 2009), the leading international trade show for flooring. At the same time, two additional special awards will be presented exclusively for avant-garde projects submitted by “New Generation” entrants (architects/interior designers under the age of 40).

Members of the jury during the selection process

It was decided to increase the total prize money to be awarded in 2009 from 50,000 euros to a total of 60,000 euros, especially to encourage “new generation” participants. The two new special awards are each worth 2,000 euros.

For the first time this year’s award invited entries in the new category “Change of use/Conversion”. Here the focus is on the conversion of buildings originally constructed for religious, cultural or public use, such as churches, monasteries/convents and railway stations, plus derelict industrial buildings which have been redesigned and structurally altered to serve a new purpose. The judges were looking for integrated design concepts for existing spaces that stood out by virtue of their quality, functionality and aesthetic value, as well as their innovative treatment of space, materials, colour and surface texture or finish.

Due to the extraordinary response to the award, it proved necessary to alter the selection procedure: the panel of judges was extended to a total of ten so that two of the four competition categories were each judged by five experts. The judges for the categories Offices/Administration buildings and Hotels/Spas/Catering facilities were Prof. Dagmar Richter (Chairwoman), Dr. Christoph Bürkle, Rolf Heide, Gabor Kiss and Wolfram Putz, while the categories Shops/Showrooms/Exhibition stands and Change of Use/Conversion were judged by Prof. Klaus Kada (chairman), Jutta Blocher, Francesca Ferguson, Jan Kleihues and Petra Wollenberg. The winners of the “New Generation” prize were decided collectively by all ten judges.

Members of the jury during the selection process

All the judges praised the high level of the entries to the award. Prof. Klaus Kada emphasized “the refreshingly diverse use of shape and color”, adding that “the large number of entries testifies to the vibrancy of the international architectural community”. Prof. Dagmar Richter echoed this enthusiasm, speaking of the “consistently high quality” of the competition, and added: “The award-winning projects excel due to their conceptual strength, innovative use of material, as well as their intelligence and sustainability.”

The winning projects will be exhibited throughout DOMOTEX HANNOVER. They will be shown in the appropriately prestigious setting of the contractworld.congress, the largest annual architectural congress in Europe. The last congress saw more than 2,500 architects and designers taking part in diverse lectures and specialist conferences. With its comprehensive program and high profile it affords an ideal forum for knowledge transfer and dialogue between international experts at the highest level. Alongside the congress, the contractworld.exhibition affords exhibitors an ideal opportunity to showcase products and new materials for contracting and development projects. Architects, interior designers, planners and project managers from across Europe and further afield welcome this opportunity to source a wealth of new ideas and exchange experience and knowledge.

The winning entries are listed here in alphabetical order, as the final order of winners of the contractworld.award will not be announced until the award presentation in January 2009 at contractworld in Hannover.

Winners in the category “Offices / Administration buildings”

junya.ishigarni+associates, JP-Tokyo: The Kanagawa Institute of Technology, JP- Kanagawa

hiendl_schineis architektenpartner­schaft, DE-Augsburg: werk + denklabor pauker, DE-Friedberg

Splitterwerk, AT-Graz: ”Frog Queen”, AT-Graz

Winners in the category “Hotels / Spas / Catering facilities”

Hitoshi Abe & Atelier Hitoshi Abe, JP-Sendai-City, Miyagi: Aoba-tei Restaurant, JP-Sendai-City

J. MAYER H. Architekten, DE-Berlin: Mensa Moltke, DE- Karlsruhe

modulorbeat - ambitious urbanists and planners, DE-Münster: Kubik BLN/BCN, DE-Berlin & ES-Barcelona

Winners in the category “Shops / Showrooms / Exhibition stands”

Manuelle Gautrand Architecture, FR-Paris: C42, Citröen Flagshi Showroom, FR-Paris

Merkx + Girod Architects, NL-Amsterdam: Bookstore Selexyz Dominicanen, NL-Maastricht

Aranda Pigem Vilalta RCR Arquitectes, ES-Olot: Hammershøi in the Light of Dreyer, ES-Barcelona

Winners in the category “Change of use / Conversion”

EMBAIXADA, PT-Lisbon: Tomar Environmental Monitoring and Interpretation Offices (EMIO), PT-Tomar

Realarchitektur - Jens Casper, Petra Petersson, Andrew Strickland, DE-Berlin: Wohnhaus / Sammlung Boros, DE-Berlin

junya.ishigarni+associates, JP-Tokyo: Yohji Yamamoto New York Gansevoort street store, USA-New York

Special awards “New generation” (architects/interior designers under the age of 40):

Category “Shops/Showrooms/Exhibition stands”

ex-studio, ES-Barcelona: Portugal Fashion Design Showroom, PT-Cascais-Porto-Algarve-Madeira

Cateory “Hotels/Spas/Catering facilities”

Plasma Studio, UK-London: Hotel Puerta America-4th Floor, ES-Madrid

All images: contractworld/Deutsche Messe Group

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