With some of the fastest growing construction markets in the world located in the east in 2012, will there be success for Asian Architecture at the Design Awards 2013?
s well as overwhelming volumes of projects, Asian regions are a rich source of the most eclectic arrays of classical splendor, technological precision and bold innovation. Asian architecture is dedicated to pushing the boundaries in design. This year is no different.
At the Design Awards 2013, described as ‘the Oscars of the design world’, hosted by the Design Museum in London, four Asian architectural designs have been nominated in the architecture category.
The T-site in Tokyo, Galaxy Soho in Beijing, The Home For All in Japan and The Kukje Art Centre in Seoul will be up against thirteen other designs from across the world including the UK, France, USA, Denmark, Turkey and Portugal.
The awards celebrate the most innovative and imaginative designs in seven different categories. Will an Asian design scoop the award in the architecture category, or could they even win the overall prize, won by the design studio BarberOsgerby for the London 2012 Olympic Torch last year.
This is what the Designs Awards has to say about each nominated building from Asia:
Galaxy Soho in Beijing designed by Zaha Hadid:
‘Five continuous, flowing volumes coalesce to create an internal world of
continuous open spaces within the Galaxy Soho building – a new office,
retail and entertainment complex devoid of corners to create an immersive,
enveloping experience in the heart of Beijing’.
Home for All in Japan designed by Akihisa Hirata, Sou Fujimoto, Kumiko Inui and Toyo Ito:
‘Presented at the Venice 2012 Architecture Biennale, Home for All is the
proposal to offer housing solutions for all the people who lost their homes in
the Japan earthquake, 2011’.
Kukje Art Centre in Seoul designed by SO-IL:
‘This single-storey building is draped in a stainless steel mesh blanket that
fits precisely over its structure and merges with the district’s historic urban
fabric of low-rise courtyard houses and dense network of small alleyways’.
T-site in Tokyo designed by Klein Dytham:
‘The T-Site project is a campus-like complex for Tsutaya, a giant in Japan’s
book, music, and movie retail market. Located in Daikanyama, an upmarket
but relaxed Tokyo shopping district, it stands alongside a series of
buildings designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Fumihiko Maki. The
project’s ambition is to define a new vision for the future of retailing’.
An exhibition at the Design Museum in London will have all designs on show from March 20 and the winner will be announced in April.
by Jack Goodman
