Press release 12.09.2014
Press Conference 11.09.2014
Blue Award 2014
with Richard Rogers, Françoise-Hélène Jourda, Albert Dubler,
Robert Lion, Robert Korab, Jana Revedin
•
Blue Award 2014
International Student
Competition for Sustainable
Architecture
•
Organizers
Department for Spatial and
Sustainable Design
Vienna University of Technology
•
Karlsplatz 13/253-3,
A-1040 Wien
Phone 00 43 (0)1 58801 253 301
Fax 00 43 (0)1 58801 253 399
www.blueaward.at
office@blueaward.at
Statements by Lord Richard Rogers and Françoise-Hélène Jourda:
Lord Richard Rogers of Riverside:
„Cities are at the heart of our culture and our economy. They are the
birthplaces of civilisation, and places for the meeting of friends and strangers
and the exchange of ideas. Creating successful cities for all people has been
at the heart of my Practice’s design for the past half century.
But during the industrial revolution, our cities also came to be seen as
dangerous, dirty, places of poverty and darkness. People with choice fled our
cities, and sought cleaner air and better lives in the sprawling suburbs.
But these suburban lifestyles not only destroy city centres, but create
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Texts and Images for download:
http://www.blueaward.at/press/downloads.html
car-dependent patterns of sprawl that have been a major contributor to
climatechange, which is affecting all of us, and endangering the lives of some
of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in the world.
Growing urbanisation across the world gives us the opportunity to change this
pattern, and to reassert the social, economic and environmental advantages
of city living.
As we move from 50% urban living today, to 70% by 2050, the only sustainable
way to grow is the compact city. This means:
• well-designed built homes and offices, with the highest density clustered
round transport hubs;
• urban planning for mixed-use live-work areas with a range of different
housing affordability, and access to vital services;
• a green grid of beautiful parks and public spaces, and excellent walking and
cycling routes and public transport;
• good governance, which supports balanced economic growth, social justice
and environmental responsibility; and
• innovative environmental design, from energy saving technology in
individual homes, to new build methods, to neighbourhood planning that
enables walking and cycling, low energy lifestyles and waste reduction.
We need to take action at every level, from the thermostat on the wall, to
urban density, to car parking regulations. Research by the Sierra Club shows
that even a draughty old building in a city centre is a less carbon-intensive
way of living than a top spec eco-home in the countryside.
It is exciting to be here in Vienna, and to see the range of innovation being
brought to bear on these urgent environmental, but also social and economic
challenges.
The successful city of the future will be the compact city where sustainability
is built in at all levels, being expressed as the DNA of urban development. I
hope the projects submitted for this prize will form part of that DNA.“
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•
Blue Award 2014
International Student
Competition for Sustainable
Architecture
•
Organizers
Department for Spatial and
Sustainable Design
Vienna University of Technology
•
Karlsplatz 13/253-3,
A-1040 Wien
Phone 00 43 (0)1 58801 253 301
Fax 00 43 (0)1 58801 253 399
www.blueaward.at
office@blueaward.at
Françoise-Hélène Jourda
„The issue of sustainable development still appears to be an extra constraint
for many of our colleagues and partners with regard to construction and
development, no matter whether these are architects, engineers, material
suppliers or investors. It seems to be an extra and heavy limitationon one’s
freedom of action, trading and creating.
Twenty years ago this problem was still ignored. Ten years ago people still
made jokes about it. Today the issue has officially been made public, as
since the beginning of the year 2000 it has become an important aspect
of communicationin projects of architecture, urbanisation and urban
development all over the world. Unfortunately, however, all too often this is
merely an announcement, a discourse that is still far removed from the reality
of a project or a construction. Something that is often called “greenwashing”.
The regulations in the field of construction in Europe have frequently been
considerably changed in order to integrate strategies for the economic use of
energy. It was urgently necessary to implement these changes, in order to
deal with the near shortage of fossile fuels but also to reduce the emissions
of gases and thus the greenhouse effect, which is essentially responsible for
the climatic changes.
But these projects frequently neglect the other preoccupations, i.e. the
economisation of nonrenewable resources – material and water – , proper
treatment of the soil and above all the awareness for the other social and
economic pillars of development that allow future generations to grow in
peace and justice.
How many of our projects in our rich and industrially highly developed
countries are planned in such a way as to considerably reduce the energy
consumption or even to produce as much energy as they consume, but have
for example been constructed in areas far from public transport (while thus
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•
Blue Award 2014
International Student
Competition for Sustainable
Architecture
•
Organizers
Department for Spatial and
Sustainable Design
Vienna University of Technology
•
Karlsplatz 13/253-3,
A-1040 Wien
Phone 00 43 (0)1 58801 253 301
Fax 00 43 (0)1 58801 253 399
www.blueaward.at
office@blueaward.at
generating very significant carbon-dioxide emissions of themselves through
private transport)? Or how many use high-emission materials contributing
to the greenhouse effect or scarce raw materials that future generations will
lack!
Despite political and very committed discourses by numerous scientists and
practitioners, many architects and urban planners have still not changed their
practices. Under the pretext of difficulties caused by regulations or funding, in
most cases however quite unaware of problems of a sustainable development,
there are still too many leading the world of construction into a catastrophe
for our societies of which we have been forewarned.
The transformation of our practices as planners is nevertheless vital! It is less
the acquisition of new knowledge that is called for than a simple conscience,
an ethic that, in contrast to the often-shared fears, does not limit our creation
but represents a renewal, a still unexploited opportunity to invent new ways
of constructing our future places to live, of discovering new architectural
texts, of creating new places of life in the city and in our rural areas.
For the students of architecture, urban and landscape planning this is an
incommensurable research field, of questioning established strategies of
action, of completely transforming their own ways of carrying out their
projects, not only for the benefit of their personal development as creators
but also as active participants of a world that will soon be utterly changed.
And we all hope that this change will lead towards more participation, more
awareness of the particular needs of the individual, of their differences and
those of the places they live in.
The issue of a sustainable development means an incredible chance for
future generations of planners to find a place that is integrated in societies of
people, of inhabitants and users. For us, the teachers, it is urgently necessary
to carry this change out in the schools, to prepare the future agents for
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•
Blue Award 2014
International Student
Competition for Sustainable
Architecture
•
Organizers
Department for Spatial and
Sustainable Design
Vienna University of Technology
•
Karlsplatz 13/253-3,
A-1040 Wien
Phone 00 43 (0)1 58801 253 301
Fax 00 43 (0)1 58801 253 399
www.blueaward.at
office@blueaward.at
different tasks to participate in this profound cultural, political, economic and
social transformation that will completely change the decades to come.
The Blue Award rewards the students and thus even their teachers who turn
to this still too-rarely practised approach. The results of the Blue Award 2012
show that many students all over world are already committed and that they
are already capable of including creativity, spatial and technical solutions in
projects that respect human beings and their environment.
Not only would I very much like them to develop their own working
methods further but also to be able to communicate their enthusiasm to
their colleagues, to continue their approach so that there will be a growing
number of people preparing this revolution of ideas, which is sustainable
development.“
Robert Lion, Jana Revedin, Françoise-Hélène Jourda, Richard Rogers, Albert Dubler, Robert Korab
Video of Press Conference with Richard Rogers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdGTxkQN2Sg&feature=youtu.be
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•
Blue Award 2014
International Student
Competition for Sustainable
Architecture
•
Organizers
Department for Spatial and
Sustainable Design
Vienna University of Technology
•
Karlsplatz 13/253-3,
A-1040 Wien
Phone 00 43 (0)1 58801 253 301
Fax 00 43 (0)1 58801 253 399
www.blueaward.at
office@blueaward.at