Los Angeles Firm Wins Top Israel Architecture Prize

Issue 76 of Israeli architecture magazine Architecture of Israel Quarterly is out now, and within it are the finalist works of the Project of the Year Competition 2008/09. Taking place for the third consecutive year, the competition has become the most important and influential in Israel.

Out of about 300 works submitted from all around the globe, 5 reached the final stage in the building category, 3 in landscape, 3 in interior design, 3 in unbuilt projects, 5 in research, and 4 in the student category.

Out of these, the three with the highest grades will be awarded the Yuli Ofer Prize for Advancing Architecture, and three student works will be awarded the Arieh and Eldar Sharon Prize for the Encouragement of Creative Students.

Building category:

First place: The Deichman Center for Social Interaction and the Spitzer-Salant School of Social Work, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva. Principal architect: Raquel Vert - Vert Architects, in cooperation with Irit Axelrod, Yasha Grobman - Grobman-Axelrod Architects.

Second place: Weekend family home in Cavado River Reservation, north Portugal. Correia/Ragazzi Architects.

Third place: Visiting center at Ramat Hanadiv Gardens, Zichron Yaacov. Ada Karmi-Melamede Architects.

Fourth place: Private home in Herzlia Pituach. Pitsou Kedem Architects.

Honorary mention: Simple Structure, Uppsala, Sweden. Ronnie Friedman A5 Architects.

Interior design category:

First place: PRS offices, Europe Israel House, Tel Aviv. Paritzki/Liviani Architects.

Second place: Memorial site for Yechiam convoy. Shachar Lulav - Oded Rozenkier Architects.

Third place, shared: 1. First floor “penthouse”. Architect Guy Zucker.

Third place, shared: 2. Jubilee Tower lobby, Hakiryah, Tel Aviv. Aliza Sheinzone Matalon - Sheinzone Studio.

Landscape category:

First place: International Biennale of Landscape Urbanism, Bat-Yam, 2008.
Curators: Sigal Barnir, Tamar Darel-Fossfeld and Yael Moria-Klain.

Second place: The REAL Estate, Temporary Private Spaces. Project in the International Biennale of Landscape Urbanism, Bat-Yam, 2008
Avi Laiser AL/Arch, Dana Hirsch Laiser - performance artist,
Misgeret Theatre Group, Offer Community Center.

Third place: Renovation of the Sea Wall, Jaffa Port, 2007. Eitan Eden Architects.

Unbuilt projects category:

First place: Swabhumi Hotel and Culture Complex, Kolkata, Bengal. Studio Morphologies, New Delhi.

Second place: The Sammy Ofer Heart Center, Suraski Medical Center, Tel Aviv, 2010
Arad Sharon - Nir Yashar - A.E.Sharon Architects; Rani Ziss Architects.

Third place: Globe Museum, Modi’in. Team Architects. Zvika Tamari, Omri Kedem, Dror Garti.

Research category:

First place: Multi-dimensional geometries in a boundary-less reality. Dr. Margot Krasojevic, London.

Second place: residential building with a social aspect. Shelly Cohen and Tula Amir.

Third place, shared: 1. Designing sound-space. Abed Badran.

Third place, shared: 2. Israeli standard for energy grading of office buildings. Prof. Edna Shaviv, Dr. Avraham Yezioro, Dr. I. Guedi Capeluto.

Fourth place: Urban legends changing Haifa’s image. Osnat Rosen-Kremer.

Student category:

First place: Prison with invisible walls. Manor Sisso, Alejandro Fajnerman, Technion.

Second place: Life in the Backyard, Ha’aliya Market Domain, Tel Aviv. Esty Ilgaev, Michael Peled, Technion.

Third place: MUSE - center for promoting popular music, Sheinkin St, Tel Aviv. Nava Aelek, Handesaim School, Tel Aviv University.

Honorary mention: “Embroidery Lesson”, education buildings interwoven in Florentine, Tel Aviv. Nancy Sandelovitch, Meirav Rauchberger, Technion.

Though not all could be included in this issue for lack of space, many of the participants won high praise. However, since the editors of AI view the competition as an apparatus to exposing the most possible deserving projects, a number of them will be included in forthcoming issues of AI in various contexts.

Furthermore, a large exhibition - to take place in May at Zezeze Gallery, will also include all the works that reached the first ten places in each category. This occasion will also hold the awarding event, under the courtesy of the Ambassador of the European Union, and a representative of the Arieh and Eldar Sharon Foundation.

Chaired by Richard Meier, the jury included the following architects:
Prof. Saadia Mandel, Prof. Tigran Haas (Stockholm), Prof. Ariyeh Sivan, Zvi Mosessco, David Renov, Prof. Tziona Shimshi, Alon Baranovitz, Gad Halperin, Dr.Gil Har-gil, Dr. Nurit Lisovski, Dan Zohar, Dr. Tal Moses-Alon, Shmuel Gruberman, Oren Onn, Noga Lesser, and Dr. Ami Ran. Judging adminstrator - Rachel Ben-Aharon.

The winners of the Yuli Ofer Prize for Advancement of Architecture are:

First place - The Deichman Center for Social Interaction and the Spitzer-Salant School of Social Work, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva. Principal architect: Raquel Vert - Vert Architects, in cooperation with Irit Axelrod, Yasha Grobman - Grobman-Axelrod Architects.

Second place - The International Biennale for Landscape Urbanism, Bat-Yam - curated by Sigal Barnir, Tamar Darel-Fossfeld, and Yael Moria-Klain.

Third place - PRS offices, Europe Israel House, Tel Aviv, 2007 - by Paritzki-Liani Architects.

Winners of the Arieh and Eldar Sharon Prize for the Encouragement of Creative Students are:

First place - Manor Sisso, Alejandro Fajnerman, Technion, Haifa

Second place - Esty Ilgaev, Michael Peled, Technion, Haifa

Third place - Nava Aelek, School of Engineers, Tel Aviv University

Honorary mention - Nancy Sandelovitch, Meirav Rauchberger, Technion, Haifa, 2008

The international competition is held annually by AI Quarterly, under the auspices of the Ambassador of the European Union.

Application to the next competition will be announced on the AI website during May 2009.