Women in Architecture Awards 2017 – The Women in Architecture Awards were started in 2012 with the continuing aim of inspiring change in the architectural profession by celebrating great design by women architects from around the world and promoting role models for young women in practice. Celebrated in the Moira Gemmill Prize shortlist are four women who are using innovative architecture to effect social change.
The Architect of the Year category brings together five female architects who have demonstrated through their recent projects an outstanding impact on the sector through excellence in design and thought leadership.
The 2017 shortlist for the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture is made up of:
Ada Yvars Bravo, Mangera Yvars Architects (London)
Yvars Bravo’s impressive Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies in Doha, Qatar is one of the most socially impactful, culturally erudite and innovative designs in Qatar. Part of Qatar Foundation’s Education City, a landmark co-educational assembly of international leading universities, the brief called for a University and the Campus Mosque, which would also be open to the public.
Johanna Hurme, 5468796 Architecture (Canada)
Hurme is a conceptual and design innovator, working on a range of projects from Crossroads Garden Shed in Calgary and Migrating Landscapes – Canada’s official entry to the 13th annual Venice Biennale – to Winnipeg’s 62M Housing and Chair Your Idea, celebrating urban design.
Jing Liu, SO-IL (USA)
Liu is a talented and innovative architect recognised on this shortlist for her work on the outstanding Manetti Shrem Museum of Art in California. With this building, an extensive canopy appears to rise from the regimented agricultural landscape of inland California and hover in the air. It introduces a new architectural spirit to the campus of University of California, Davis.
Rozana Montiel (Mexico)
Montiel’s perceptive projects include Veracruz Cancha (a sports court), San Pablo Xalpa Unidad Habitacional (housing unit) and Tepoztlan House, all in Mexico. Her sensitive engagements with communities activate simple architectural forms.
The Architect of the Year 2017 shortlist is made up by:
Julia Barfield, Marks Barfield Architects (UK)
Barfield is best known for her work on iconic city-branding structures, such as the London Eye observation wheel of 1999 – and is recognised in the shortlist for the BA i360 structure in Brighton, UK (highlighted in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s slenderest tall tower). Barfield also has a strong interest in community and place-making projects.
Gabriela Carrillo, Taller Mauricio Rocha + Gabriela Carrillo (Mexico)
Carrillo has been shortlisted for her work on the Criminal Courts for Oral trials in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán in Mexico – which skilfully answers a brief to design flexible spaces, comply with strict security rules and improve transparency in the judicial process. The architectural practice is also known for its work on the Matamoros Theatre in Morelia, capital of Michoacán.
www.tallerdearquitectura.com.mx
Anouk Legendre, XTU Architects (France)
Legendre has been shortlisted for her work on the Cité du Vin in Bordeaux, France – a place where wine-trail tourists can buy, consume and learn all about the culture and civilization associated with the beverage. An imposing, shiny, compelling structure, it breaks completely with the restrained limestone classicism of old Bordeaux.
Andrea Leers and Jane Weinzapfel, Leers Weinzapfel Associates (USA)
Leers and Weinzapfel have been shortlisted for their work on the East Regional Chilled Water Plant, Ohio State University, USA. The project is an elegant and positive approach to a functional building which uses perforated aluminium panels to achieve a refined aesthetic while maintaining an industrial utility.
Christine Murray, founder of the Women in Architecture Awards and editor-in-chief of The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal, said about the shortlists:
‘These women architects are creating some of the most innovative and creative design work in the world today. It is a privilege to celebrate work from a broad range of countries – showing how great design touches all our lives.’
The Jane Drew Prize winner
Denise Scott Brown is the winner of the 2017 Jane Drew Prize, the award which recognises an architectural designer who through their work and commitment to design excellence has raised the profile of women in architecture. Respondents to the Women in Architecture: Working In Architecture survey overwhelmingly voted for Scott Brown to be honoured with the award. Scott Brown’s receipt of the prize is a culmination of the grassroots drive to see her contribution to the profession adequately recognised – a movement that sprung from the Women in Architecture campaign in 2013 – a quarter of a century after her partner Robert Venturi was awarded the Pritzker.
Denise Scott Brown said of the accolade: ‘Things have happened which have made me very happy in my old age and one of those is this prize – and the petition which came out of the Architects’ Journal’s work.’
Christine Murray, editor-in-chief of The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal, said: ‘Denise Scott Brown’s wonderful architectural writing and thinking, her work and her wit have been an inspiring force for change. This honour squares the circle.’
Ada Yvars Bravo, Mangera Yvas Architects,Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies, Doha Photography courtesy of the architect
The Ada Louise Huxtable Prize winner
Artist Rachel Whiteread is the winner of the 2017 Ada Louise Huxtable Prize, the award which recognises individuals working in the wider architectural industry who have made a significant contribution to architecture and the built environment. Whiteread was the standout nomination for the honour, as voted for by the respondents to the Women in Architecture: Working In Architecture survey. The materiality of Whiteread’s work (such as in her 1993 Turner Prize-winning House), her collaboration with architects (such as Caruso St John Architects for the UK Holocaust Memorial International Design Competition), and her participation on the RIBA Stirling Prize 2016 jury all highlight her impact on the wider architectural world.
Christine Murray, editor-in-chief of The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal, said: ‘Rachel Whiteread is an important influence and inspiration to the profession and richly deserving of the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize.’
Jing Liu,SO-IL,Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, California, USA Photography by Iwan Baan
About the Women in Architecture Awards
The Women in Architecture Awards, in association with The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal, are in place to inspire change in the architectural profession by celebrating great design by women architects from around the world and promoting role models for young women in practice.
Previous winners of the Emerging Women Architect of the Year include Gabriela Etchegaray, co-founder of Ambrosi Etchegaray (2016), vPPR founders Tatiana von Presussen, Catherine Pease and Jessica Reynolds (2015), sole practitioner and PhD candidate Julia King (2014), Spanish architect Olga Felip (2013) and Hannah Lawson, Director of John McAslan + Partners (2012).
Previous winners of the Architect of the Year award include Jeanne Gang, founder of Studio Gang, who was recognised with the accolade for the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership in Michigan in 2016, Teresa Borsuk, partner at Pollard Thomas Edwards (2015), Mecanoo’s Francine Houben (2014), ABA founder Alison Brooks (2013) and Michál Cohen and Cindy Walters, founders of Walters and Cohen (2012).
As is customary, the winners will be announced at a gala luncheon on Friday 3 March 2017 at Claridge’s, London. The winner of the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture will receive £10,000, a fund created in Moira’s memory to support the winner in their continuing professional development.
Johanna Hurme,5468796 Architects,Winnipeg 62M Housing, Calgary Crossroads Shed and Chair Your Idea, Canada Photography courtesy of the architect
The Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture – This award recognises excellence in design and a bright future, with an emphasis on achievements and projects completed. Renamed in memory of the late Moira Gemmill, the £10,000 prize fund aims to support the continuing professional development of the winner/s. Applicants need not be a qualified architect, may be under 45, studying architecture, have just started a practice or be completing their first project. Previous winners include: Gabriela Etchegaray, co-founder of Ambrosi Etchegaray (2016); vPPR founders Tatiana von Preussen, Catherine Pease and Jessica Reynolds (2015); sole practitioner Julia King (2014); Spanish architect Olga Felip (2013); and John McAslan + Partners’ Hannah Lawson (2012).
The prize is named in memory of the late Moira Gemmill, director of design at the V&A and latterly director of capital programmes at the Royal Collection Trust, an arts visionary who died suddenly in 2015. A keen judge and supporter of the Women in Architecture Awards since their inception in 2012, the £10,000 prize fund has been created in Moira’s memory for the winner/s to support them in their continuing professional development.
Architect of the Year – This annual award recognises excellence in design with an emphasis on a built project completed in 2016. Candidates must be qualified architects in their country of study. They may be running their own practice, in a small design-led practice or a large commercial firm, in partnership or a director. Joint entries are also accepted.
Jeanne Gang, founder of Studio Gang, was recognised with the accolade for the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership in Michigan in 2016. Previous winners have included: Pollard Thomas Edwards’ Teresa Borsuk; Mecanoo’s Francine Houben; Michál Cohen and Cindy Walters, founders of Walters & Cohen; and ABA founder, Alison Brooks.
Anouk Legendre, XTU Architects, Cité du Vin, Bordeaux, France Photography by David Helman
The Jane Drew Prize – The Jane Drew Prize recognises an architectural designer who through their work and commitment to design excellence has raised the profile of women in architecture.
The prize is named after the great Jane Drew, who was a spirited advocate for women in a male-dominated profession. She graduated from the Architectural Association in 1929 into a profession that was unwelcoming to women at best. She started her own practice after the Second World War, and her work played a substantial role in introducing the Modern Movement into the UK.
In 2016, the prize was given to creative powerhouse and equality advocate Odile Decq. Previous winners include Grafton Architects’ founders Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, Zaha Hadid, Kathryn Findlay of Ushida Findlay and Eva Jiřičná.
The Ada Louise Huxtable Prize – This award recognises individuals working in the wider architectural industry who have made a significant contribution to architecture and the built environment. The award is open to critics, politicians, clients and planners, or anyone influencing architectural culture.
The prize is named after architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable. She made history by being the first full-time architecture critic at a US newspaper when she joined the New York Times, and was later awarded the first Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1970.
Former director of the Serpentine Galleries Julia Peyton-Jones won the prize in 2016 for her role in nurturing architectural vision and making architecture available to a broad global audience. Client and architectural patron Jane Priestman won the inaugural prize in 2015.
Supporting statistics on the make-up of the profession – According to the Architects’ Registration Board (ARB) in their 2015 annual report, ‘Of the 36,678 on the Register at the end of December 2015, 75% were male and 25% female. This is the same percentage split as in 2014. The percentage of female architects continues to grow slowly through new admissions to the Register. In 2010 the percentage split of the Register as a whole was 81% male and 19% female.’
All architects must register with the ARB in order to call themselves an architect and be active in practice.
Gabriela Carrillo,Taller de Arquitectura Mauricio Rocha + Gabriela Carrillo, Criminal Courts for Oral Trials, Pátzcuaro, Mexico Photography by Onnis Luque
The Judges of the 2017 Architect of the Year and the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture are:
