Kazuyo Sejima already came to notice with her early buildings, which not only demonstrate an elegant formal composition and material assembly but also a thorough independent design approach. The Japanese architect starts from an abstract description of functional relationships, for which the respective building is intended, transposes this into a spatial diagram and transforms this diagram into architecture. The resulting buildings are as unusual as they are memorable, seemingly transcending any traditional typology, however, remaining closely related to their function.
In this manner, Sejima picks up the modernist thread, whose premises and ambitions she nevertheless interprets in an unorthodox and contemporary way. Distinct from her teacher Toyo Ito and most of his generation, she is not concerned with the exaggerated representation of the fleeting character of our times, but, on the contrary, with a contemplative deceleration – devoid of any nostalgia.
For over three decades Manuel Castells has devoted himself to the problems in architecture and urban development. His first book “La question urbane” of 1972 became a classic textbook in the field of urban sociology worldwide.
In his book “The City and the Grassroots” of 1983 Castells analyzed the role of social movements in European, North and South American urban developments. Already in 1989 he had conducted research on the influence of new information technology on economic and urban development processes.
With his three volume publication on “The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture: The rise of the Network Society (vol. 1), The Power of Identity (vol. 2), End of Millenium (vol. 3)”, Castells also had an impact on the discussion on de- and reurbanization processes.
Already with his thesis project Benjamin Foerster-Baldenius questioned the traditional activities of architects. The emphasis of his work lies in the planning and realization of events as well as ephemeral buildings such as for example the “bad ly”, a public swimming pool amongst building waste containers, or the 100 m long kitchen counter for the Architectural Forum Linz, both projects from 1999.
As a member of the Berlin group raumlabor Benjamin Foerster-Baldenius and his partners develop urban design and architectural projects, for which architectural collaborations are assembled according to need based on a “loose bunch, a pleasant network, two rooms with a little technology”.
Benjamin Foerster-Baldenius dares to forecast that “raumlabor will be one of the largest architecture networks in ten years, with 950 members worldwide and the first two thousand realized raumlabor projects. The name stands for green, witty and far too cheap.”
Through his clear designation of architectural and urban developments, the architectural sociologist from Berlin, Werner Sewing, has been providing intrepid as well as analytically rich critique for nearly a decade. The broad geographical extent and the depth of expertise with which Sewing has systematically advanced and penetrated into the heart of the issues at hand is particularly remarkable. He has authored texts about urban phenomena in the United States as well as about the second “Stone Berlin” and the involuntary transformation in the self-conception of the professional trade (included as a summary in Sewing’s book: Bildregie: Architektur zwischen Retrodesign und Eventkultur, Basel 2003).
Sewing’s essays and lectures are characterised by clear statements that are accessible to lay audiences as well. The Erich Schelling Architecture Theory Award, with an endowment of 10,000 euro, particularly recognises Sewing’s independent and exemplary efforts to ensuring that the complex transformations unfolding in architecture and urban planning are accessible to the general public from a socio-critical perspective.
Through a radical return to the essentials, Anne Lacaton and Jean Philippe Vassal open up an opportunity for directly experiencing the spaces as well as the structural layers of the buildings they create. The Palais de Tokyo in Paris from 2001, in particular, was able to achieve this fruitful juxtaposition of temporary interventions for the service of contemporary art and the external claim to eternal existence made by the structures of the 1937 World Expo.
Placing less value on formal elegance, the designs of these two French architects focus on the intelligent application of simple, in part pre-fabricated, structural elements. This allows for the creation of succinct, cost-efficient structures that draw clear distinctions between vigorously defined cores and variously usable building envelopes, often developed in accordance with the principle of a greenhouse (Haus Latapie, Bordeaux 1993; house in Coutras 2000; apartment building, Mulhouse 2004-06).
In essence, the works of Lacaton & Vassal are guided by the question of the suitability of the materials to be used. Early on, their time together in Africa awoke an awareness within them about creative approaches to working with limited resources, about the open-ended utilisation of well-proportioned rooms, and about the importance of the quality of space over aesthetic statements.
