INFORMATION of 07 octobre 2010 Frankfurt am Main 2010 DAM Architectural Book Award bestowed Even in an age of growing competition from new media, architectural books are still a focal point of information about architecture. Which is why, following the successful premiere last year, Frankfurt Book Fair and Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) bestowed the international DAM Architectural Book Award again in 2010. Around 90 art and architectural book publishers from around the world heeded the joint call by Deutsches Architekturmuseum and the Book Fair, and for the first time entries were submitted from China, Brazil, and Mexico. A jury comprising DAM representatives and external experts judged the submissions according to categories such as design, content, quality of material and finishing, innovation and topicality. The prize-giving ceremony took place on October 6 in the library at Deutsches Architekturmuseum; all the prize winners are to be presented at Frankfurt Book Fair in Hall 4.1, at the Deutsche Architekturmuseum stand, J553. This year the external jury comprised: Hans Demarmels, Publisher world-architects.com, PSA Publishers Ltd. (Zurich), Celina Lunsford, artistic director, Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, Andrea Redolfi, graphic designer, Atelier Reinhard Gassner (Schlins, Austria), Ernst Wasmuth, managing director, Ernst Wasmuth Verlag GmbH & Co. (Tübingen / Berlin), Sebastian Tokarz, head of press department KSP Jürgen Zimmermann Architekten (Frankfurt/Main). PRESS INFORMATION page 1
PRIZE WINNERS 1) Category: Monograph of a building Title: Hamsun Holl Hamarøy (Lars Müller Publishers) Author: - Editor(s): Aaslaug Vaa, Nina Frang Høyum, Erik Fenstad Langdalen, Lars Müller Artistic design: Integral Lars Müller / Lars Müller and Nadine Unterharrer (concept, typography, layout), Iwan Baan (photographer/ illustrator) Steven Holl built a documentation center for the Norwegian author Knut Hamsun (1859-1952) on Hamarøy in northern Norway. The book documents the link between Hamsun, the architecture, and the landscape. The photographer Iwan Baan puts the landscape and the building in relation to one another and historical documents illustrate Hamsun s life and his oeuvre. The jury s verdict: Architecture is a wide subject and, in a manner that is quite unusual and at the same time captivating, Hamsun Holl Hamarøy takes this literally, evoking a triad of architecture, landscape, and literature to a certain extent embedded architecture. Hamsun Holl Hamaroy is a documentation of the building and the preceding design process, but also a presentation of the genius loci in the far North and an introduction to the author s life and work. Overall the book showcases Steven Holl s architectural commentary on Hamsun s oeuvre, as which the building can be read. The book s concept is utterly convincing, the design extremely careful and the photographs by Iwan Baan, an architectural photographer who works all around the world and who focuses on people in architecture, excellent. PRESSEINFORMATION Seite 2
2) Category: History of architecture Title: Moderno Tropical, Arquitectura em Angola e Moçambique. 1948-1975 (Tinta da China) Author: Ana Magalhães and Inês Gonçalves Editor: Bárbara Bulhosa Artistic design: Vera Tavares (concept, layout), Guide Artes Gráficas (typography), Inês Gonçalves (photographer/ illustrator)»moderno Tropical«travels through Angola and Mozambique, visiting the most relevant architectural projects of the 1950s and 1960s. As the African territory was less dependent on the cultural patterns imposed by the Portuguese dictatorship, Modernism left a particular mark on the colonies. The authors show how both Le Corbusier and modern Brazilian architecture shaped the urban landscape in Luanda, Lobito, Maputo and Beira, stipulating»topicality«as a common denominator. The jury s verdict: Moderno Tropical focuses on architecture, of which our Euro-centric approach is hardly, or not at all aware Modernism in Africa, more precisely in the former Portuguese colonies Mozambique and Angola. The authors deliberately decided against the distance of a scientific, technical appraisal of the current situation, preferring instead to rely on the direct effect of photographic proximity to the daily usage of Modernism, the way it changes, is slowly put to new uses and gradually taken over by its residents. Man and architecture embark on a visible, tangible relationship with each other that is the strength of this book. PRESSEINFORMATION Seite 3
3) Category: Urban Sociology Title: Migropolis, Venice/ Atlas of a Global Situation (Hatje Cantz Verlag) Author: - Editor: Wolfgang Scheppe, IUAV Class on Politics of Representation Artistic design: Wolfgang Scheppe (concept, typography, layout) Venice, the epitome of longing located at the intersection of three migration corridors seen as a European frontier town and a representative prototype of the escalation of the globalized city. The jury's verdict: Examining every angle of globalization and migration using as an example Venice, an urban territory and the very epitome of longing, make an unusually exciting search for clues in the urban sphere. This search is conducted by Wolfgang Scheppe and his students at the IAUV University in Venice. Assembled over a period of three years, the resulting case study in urban sociology, which is extraordinarily rich in material and highly sophisticated, develops into a gigantic archive consisting of thousands of photos, movement profiles and statistical data (blurb). All this alone would merit a prize, but what finally decided the jurors was the way that the object under investigation was illustrated and personalized -- the real actors, the immigrants, whose lives are determined by the mechanisms of globalization assume contours in sensitive interviews, they have faces and voices. The outstandingly successful portraits of the immigrants living and working behind the scenes at this tourist magnet make Migropolis a unique publication. PRESSEINFORMATION Seite 4
4) Category: Monograph of an architectural practice Title: Yes is More, An Archicomic on Architectural Evolution (Evergreen/ Taschen Verlag) Author: BIG Bjarke Ingels Group Editor: Bjarke Ingels Artistic design: BIG Bjarke Ingels Group (concept, typography, layout), E-Types (front cover) YES IS MORE is the first monograph of its kind devoted exclusively to BIG. Unlike a classic monograph, this book is more of a manifesto of popular culture, in which BIG s methods are revealed as being as unconventional as the world in which it exists. YES IS MORE speaks the language of popular culture, allowing the sublime to shine through in the commonplace. It enables readers to gain insights into BIG s processes viathe most approachable and populist means of communication -- the cartoon. The jury's verdict: YES IS MORE uses the comic format, a genre that has to date not been an obvious choice for that classic form of publication that is the architecture monograph. In future, people will view this with different eyes. The narrative approach, the expressive pictorial language represent a kind of architectural evolution in the topic (no less!) but, nonetheless, it has its feet on the ground and is great fun, making this archi-comic a great pleasure to read, incidentally, for people who know little about the subject, as well. YES IS MORE has been designed exclusively and throughout by staff at the bureau -- in the eyes of the jury, a particularly praiseworthy feature. PRESSEINFORMATION Seite 5
5) Category: Historical Monograph of an architectural practice Title: Jørn Utzon Logbook, Vol. 5, Additive Architecture (Edition Bløndal) Author: Jørn Utzon Editor: Mogens Prip-Buus Artistic design: Edition Bløndal (concept), K-Grafik/ Michael Jensen (typography), Mogens Prip-Buus & Michael Jensen (layout) - The jury's verdict: Covering a wide range, this survey of the works of architect Jørn Utzon is now being continued posthumously. Unlike the first four volumes, Utzon's Logbook No.5 is not devoted to individual buildings. Instead, it looks at additive architecture, a category created by Utzon's assistant and the author of the work, Mogens Prip-Buus. Logbook No. 5 unfolds Utzon s studies on the relationship between nature and architecture in front of the reader in the most opulent way imaginable. It furnishes, as it were, a topic as a mere matter of course and with obvious devotion to the theme. That said, on the one hand it takes a wholly systematic approach, repeatedly interrupts the presentation of the projects, however, with interspersed photos, which approach the object on a purely associative level. The book s graphic design is just as excellent as the quality of the print and the paper. The book comes across as, in the true sense of the word, fleetfooted. PRESSEINFORMATION Seite 6
COMMENDATIONS 6) Category: Monograph of a building Title: Bibliothek (Berlin Verlag) Author: Milan Bulaty et al Editor: Milan Bulaty Artistic design : Elisabeht Rugel, Birgit Thiel (concept, typography, layout), Barbara Klemm, Stefan Müller (photographers) - The jury s verdict: This book about the new main library at Humboldt University addresses far more than this particular library and refers to the library as such, not merely in terms of its function, but as a social place, as a place for living, a microcosm. Bibliothek is a book about architecture and a book for reading, and combines totally different disciplines, which, from angles and perspectives that are just as different, shed light on the library as a microcosm. The articles are continued in the photos by Stefan Müller and Barbara Klemm. Whereas Stefan Müller documents the architectural language in formal stringency and in color, Barbara Klemm captures the library users and architecture in black and white snapshots. The polarization between deserted and vibrant architecture and the totally different photographic modes create a quite special tension and make this book unique. PRESSEINFORMATION Seite 7
7) Category: Urban Portrait Title: Learning from Hangzhou (Timezone 8) Author: Mathieu Borysevicz, Denise Scott Brown, Robert Venturi, C. Diaz Editor: Mathieu Borysevicz Artistic design: Mathieu Borysevicz, Pam Jue (concept, typography, layout), Mathieu Borysevicz, Clarisa Diaz, Maxine Wang, Wang Xiao Feng, Sophie Wang, Peng Hui (photographers) Over the last ten years, the ancient Chinese city of Hangzhou has tripled in size and gained a million people in population. Learning from Hangzhou is an extended photo essay that examines where cultural transformation and urban development overlap in the unbridled context of today s China. The jury s verdict: Learning from Hangzhou transfers the concept of Learning from Las Vegas to the urban situation of a Chinese city with a population of millions. Seeing without evaluating is the guiding principle here. The way the urban phenomena are visualized, the redundancy and concentration of their portrayal, and the sheer mass of what is portrayed are too much for European viewing habits and are yet an accurate image of a major Asian city a sensory overload is par for the course. As a photo essay, Learning from Hanghzou presents, by means of the structure and theme of the photos, a purely visual analysis of the city s architectural and planning phenomena. PRESSEINFORMATION Seite 8
8) Category: Illustrated Book Title: Dado, Gebaut und bewohnt von Rudolf Olgiati und Valerio Olgiati (Birkhäuser) Author: Selina Walder Editor: - Artistic design: Dino Simonett (concept, typography, layout) The plot of land owned by the Olgiati family lies in the old center of Flims. Rudolf Olgiati acquired the property named Dado in 1930 and during his lifetime used it to put his architectural thoughts and ideas into practice. Nowadays the son lives in his father s house, and in 2008 he built his highly regarded architecture on the site of the former stables. Taking the residence and studio as an example, the publication portrays the life and impact of the two architects. The jury s verdict: Dado is both the photographic documentation of a project and an unusually sensually comprehensible chronology of a building. Historical photos reveal both the architectural and personal traces that Rudolf Olgati left on and in the centuries-old house. At the same time Valerio Olgiati s conversion of the ancillary building into his own architecture studio is also documented. First-class design, modest in the form of a decidedly unpretentious magazine format, and photos of outstanding quality, make this family architectural history a quite extraordinary book, a feast for the eyes. PRESSEINFORMATION Seite 9
9) Category: Children s Book Title: Treppe, Fenster, Klo - Die ungewöhnlichsten Häuser der Welt (Moritz Verlag) Author: Aleksandra Machowiak, Daniel Mizieliński Editor: - Artistic design: Aleksandra Machowiak, Daniel Mizieliński, German cover design Max Bartholl (concept, typography, layout), Aleksandra Machowiak (photographer) TREPPE FENSTER KLO is the first children s book about contemporary architecture. The two young Polish graphic designers (born 1982) present 35 of the most unusual and maddest buildings from around the world. The jury s verdict: Treppe Fenster Klo is the conveying of architecture in the best sense of the word, as it is written with a view to the target group and as such clearly answers the banal but consistently challenging question: Who is this actually written for?. This book gives children access to contemporary architecture without simplifying and making infantile either the subject or those it is aimed at. Nor is there any sign here of the educational instruction that can be found so frequently in German children s books. (Both the authors were born in 1982!) The book is funny, imaginative and comes across as totally fleet-footed, such that in passing children learn what architecture is actually about. PRESSEINFORMATION Seite 10
10) Category: Civil engineering works Title: Landschaft und Kunstvauten. Ein persönliches Inventar von Jürgen Conzett, fotografiert von Martin Linsi (Scheidegger & Spiess) Author: Jürgen Conzett Editor: Federal Cultural Office, Bern Artistic design: Jürgen Conzett, Chur (concept), Projectbox - Heinz Kriesi, Thalwil & Heuss Creative Consulting - Peter Heuss (design), Martin Linsi (photographer) Landschaft und Kunstbauten is the book to go with the Swiss entry to the 2010 Architecture Biennale in Venice. It is a presentation of approx. 50 structures selected by the engineer Jürgen Conzett, which stand out for a special relationship with the Swiss countryside: Bridges, footbridges, tunnels, supporting walls, passages in other words, structures, which serve traffic routes. The jury s verdict: Focusing on engineering structures that serve as traffic routes is the first major merit of this book. The manner in which this is implemented, of the almost poetic approach to the topic is just as impressive and unusual: Jürg Conzett and Martin Linsi take readers on an expedition to bridges from all eras in Switzerland. The structures are presented in writing and in images from a point of view that is just as expert as it is consistently subjective. The articles and photos go far beyond a pure documentation and are a delight to read and look at. The design and layout of the book are on an equally high level. PRESSEINFORMATION Seite 11
DAM Architectural Book Award extract from the call for entries For the second time, after the successful premiere in 2009, Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) is this year asking again for entries to be submitted for the DAM Architectural Book Award 2010. All art and architectural book publishers worldwide that bring out books and exhibition catalogues on cities, urban planning, architecture and architectural photography are invited to do so. Encouraged by last year s remarkable response of over 200 submissions from altogether 60 publishers from German-speaking countries the DAM Architectural Book Award 2010 will consciously open up to an international range of participants. A jury comprising DAM internal jurors as well as external experts will judge the submissions according to design, concept, quality in terms of material and finishing, level of innovation and timeliness. Identifying the best architectural books published in the current year by way of this competition and presenting them to architecture enthusiasts is thus a fundamental task of the 2009 DAM Architectural Book Award. As an honorary award it does not involve any prize money. Jury The following jury will decide on this year s DAM Architectural Book Award: external jurors: Hans Demarmels, Publisher world-architects.com, PSA Publishers Ltd., Zürich Kristin Feireiss, director, Galerie Aedes, Berlin Celina Lunsford, artistic director, Fotografie Forum, Frankfurt Andrea Redolfi, graphic designer Atelier Reinhard Gassner, Schlins (Österreich), winner of DAM Architectural Book Award 2009 Ernst Wasmuth, managing director, Ernst Wasmuth Verlag GmbH & Co. Tübingen / Berlin Sebastian Tokarz, head of press department, KSP Engel Architekten Frankfurt, coordination of DAM Architectural Book Award 2009 DAM jurors: Peter Cachola Schmal, director DAM Dr. Wolfgang Voigt, deputy director DAM Dr. Annette Becker, curator DAM Oliver Elser, curator DAM Christina Budde, education curator DAM / coordination of DAM Architectural Book Award 2010 PRESSEINFORMATION Seite 12
categories architecture monographs exhibition catalogues anthologies architectural photography, cities / urban planning, landscape design, art of engineering, architecture education / teaching / textbook various subjects / special cases The jury reserves the right to make a fresh decision on categorization of the entries. Basically the jury will determine prize winners and award commendations. PRESSEINFORMATION Seite 13
Press photos available at www.dam-online.de for the duration of the exhibition Contact partner DEUTSCHES ARCHITEKTURMUSEUM Schaumainkai 43, 60596 Frankfurt/Main, Germany, www.dam-online.de Christina Budde Education christina.budde@stadt-frankfurt.de T +49 (0)69 212 31076 \ F +49 (0)69 212 37721 Contact DEUTSCHES ARCHITEKTURMUSEUM Press and Public Relations Schaumainkai 43, 60596 Frankfurt/ Main, Germany, www.dam-online.de Brita Köhler Tel.: +49 (0)69 212 31318 \ Fax +49 (0)69 212 36386 brita.koehler@stadt-frankfurt.de PRESSEINFORMATION Seite 14