Sanaa’s Grace Farms Win Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize
newsdepo.com
Kazuko Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, or rather their Pritzker-decorated Japanese practice Sanaa, has won the 2014/ 2015 Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize, an award that recognizes “distinguished architectural works on the North and South American continents.”Sa
Sanaa’s Grace Farms Win Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize
Kazuko Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, or rather their Pritzker-decorated Japanese practice Sanaa, has won the 2014/ 2015 Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize, an award that recognizes “distinguished architectural works on the North and South American continents.”Sanaa was recognized for the design of Grace Farms in New Canaan, Connecticut, a semi-spiritual community center erected by the not-for-profit Grace Farms Foundation, with a budget of about $120 million in total, met largely through donations. The river-like new home for Grace Farms, grouped beneath a long, undulating roof and beautifully embedded into its surroundings, was one of the most anticipated new buildings scheduled to open in 2015, and has created an ongoing buzz since.“Since opening to the public in October 2015, Grace Farms has functioned as both a peaceful respite and a place of vibrant activity,” a statement issued alongside the award ceremony last week explains. “The River building draws people in to engage with the site’s natural landscape and serves as the springboard for Grace Farms’ mission and programs. Within the first six months, approximately 50,000 people visited Grace Farms to participate in architectural tours, community dinners, lectures and discussions, concerts, athletics, and worship services—or to explore the 80-acre site on an individual basis.”Sanaa’s Grace Farms was chosen out of a group of six finalists. Also shortlisted were a weekend house by Angelo Bucci, São Paulo, Brazil; the UTEC Campus by Grafton Architects, Lima, Peru; the Pachacamac Museum by Llosa Cortegana, Lima, Peru; the Tower 41 by Alberto Kalach, Mexico City, Mexico; and the Star Apartments by Michael Maltzan, Los Angeles, California.This year’s jury, which traveled to all the shortlisted sites for a first-hand evaluation, consisted of Wiel Arets, Florencia Rodriguez, Ila Berman, Jean Pierre Crousse, and MCHAP jury president Stan Allen.“Among a strong group of projects Grace Farms emerged as a clear winner for the clarity and consistency of its architectural solution,” Allen explained. “The jury was struck by the radical way in which the line between architecture and landscape is blurred by the ‘River’ building. The firsthand experience of the building reveals a confident realization and the immediacy of its detailing. Finally, the Grace Farms project uniquely demonstrates architecture’s capacity to make a place for an innovative new institution.”The biennially awarded Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) was conceived by Wiel Arets, the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture Dean, with the first winners in 2014 being the Iberê Camargo Foundation in Porto Alegre, Brazil, designed by Alvaro Siza, and 1111 Lincoln Road, a mixeduse parking structure in Miami Beach, Florida, by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. See more images of the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize 2016 finalists in the slideshow. Read more
