The European Prize for Architecture, Architecture of Necessity

The European Prize for Architecture, Architecture of Necessity

AN EXHIBITION ON NORWEGIAN TYIN ARCHITECTS WINNERS OF THE 2012 EUROPEAN PRIZE FOR ARCHITECTURE OPENS AT CONTEMPORARY SPACE ATHENS

ATHENS, GREECE, MARCH 20, 2013...In 2012, TYIN tegnestue Architects of Trondheim, Norway were named  as the recipients of the prestigious European Prize for Architecture for their humanitarian work designing and building with community participation in poor and underdeveloped areas in Africa and Asia.

Curated by Christian Narkiewicz-Laine, the exhibition of this young firm’s humanitarian work takes place at Contemporary Space Athens (74 Mitropoleos Str. ) in Athens, Greece opens on March 30 and continues through May 19.

The European Prize for Architecture is organized by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and  Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies every year to architects who have demonstrated a significant contribution to humanity and to the built environment through the art of

architecture.

“This young Norwegian firm,” states Mr. Narkiewicz-Laine,“clearly understands the basic needs of the people for whom architecture must serve. ‘Serve’ is the key word here. This is not a glamorous architecture, but nonetheless, profound and noble in its attributes. The perfectly integrated Design Ethos behind this practice is absolutely phenomenal, by involving the local designs craft and build techniques the final product not only  contextually accurate but aesthetically superb.”

TYIN tegnestue Architects was established in 2008 as a not-for-profit humanitarian design organization and is connected to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology where the two architects graduated and still teach.

TYIN’s main missions is to improve the human spirit; increase an awareness of environmental and/or address climate change; respond to our world’s growing need for clean water, power, shelter, healthcare, and education; and address the human crisis.

Over the last few years, the office has completed several recent projects in the poor and underdeveloped nations of Thailand, Burma, Haiti, Uganda, and Sumatra, as well as designing and building in the vernacular tradition of their native Norway.

Those projects include: Cassia Co-op Training Centre (2011) in Padang, Sumatra; Klong Toey Community Lantern (2011) in Bangkok, Thailand; Old Market Library (2009) Bangkok, Thailand; Safe Haven Bathhouse and Library (2009), Tak Province, Thailand/Burma; and Soe Ker Tie House (2008) Noh Bo, Thailand/Burma.

“Architecture should be a vehicle for social change, social improvement, and real cultural development,” continues Mr. Narkiewicz-Laine, “and not an end result of over-commercialization, over-consumption, and self- aggrandizement which is so overwhelmingly apparent in our contemporary world.”

“The example of these young Norwegian architects is paramount in the coming decades for the Third World’s success at sustainability, urbanization, and social development, which contributes substantially to our world’s greater peace and harmony.”

The exhibition continues at Contemporary Space Athens through May 19

A catalogue accompanies the exhibition, “The Architecture of Necessity,” published by Metropolitan Arts Press Ltd.

For more information and press photographs, contact Ira Livadioti, Director of Administration, at +30/210-342 8511 or by email at ira@europeanarch.eu

The changing Domestic Landscape Exhibition

THE CHANGING DOMESTIC LANDSCAPE OPENS AT CONTEMPORARY SPACE ATHENS

ATHENS, GREECE, MARCH 20, 2013…”The Changing Domestic Landscape” is an ambitious design exhibition undertaken by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design, on view at Contemporary Space Athens (74 Mitropoleos Str.) in Athens, Greece from March 30 through May 19.

The exhibition is presented together with The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies in Dublin, Ireland and Athens, Greece.

Directed and curated by Christian Narkiewicz-Laine, the exhibition documents the latest advances to the home with household and kitchen products, furniture, and electronics that are transforming the domestic environment and the daily life for millions of people today around the world.

The objects in the exhibition arrive from the GOOD DESIGN ™ program for 2012, which last year awarded over 700 new products and graphics from over 38 nations, from the new Boeing Dreamliner to the new BMW M5 and high speed trains from Austria and Sweden.

GOOD DESIGN was founded in Chicago in 1950 by Eero Saarinen and Charles and Ray Eames and remains the world’s oldest and most important global program for Design Excellence.

“The Changing Domestic Landscape,” states Mr. Narkiewicz-Laine, illustrates how objects found in today’ home environments result from the changing patterns of today’s life style: more informal social and family relationships and evolving notions of privacy and territoriality, as well as the exploration of new materials and production techniques.

The exhibition contains new household products from Austria, Australia, Belgium, China, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Turkey, and the United States. These products illustrate the wide range of possibilities, limitations, and critical problems of contemporary designers throughout the world and are represented by diverse and sometimes radical new technologies and opposite approaches to design.

Some of the world’s leading manufactures and dominant product design forces in the world today are represented: Alessi, SpA, Deutsche Telekom, Artemide, Kartell, BMW AG, Whirlpool, Ericsson AB, Vodaphone,  Bang & Olufsen, 3M, Arcelik A.S., Grundig, iRobot, General Electric, Fiskars, Vestel Electronics Co., Rosenthal  AG., Sambonet Paderno Industrie SpA, Royal Philips Electronics N.V., Braun GmbH., Bodum AG, Braun, and  BSH Bosch und Seimens Hausgeräte GmbH.

These new objects from Bang & Olufsen’s Beolit 12 to kitchenware by Eva Denmark A/S are beautifully and handsomely crafted by designers who believe it is possible to improve the quality of life by improving our physical environments. There is a new and enlightened ecological approach to the design of these products in an ongoing awareness of Green Design and against a consumer-dominated culture where social and political changes can change the physical aspects of our society.

One of the most remarkable new technologies on view includes the use of robotics to self-clean the house by iRobot, Evolution Robotics, and Emani Design.

The exhibition also includes new furniture, lighting fixtures, flatware, cookware, electronics, fabrics, and china by such top names in design as Karim Rashid, Sebastiano Erocoli, Fabrizio Giugiaro, Yves Béhar, Steffen Schmelling, ,Anders Hermansen, David Lewis, Giovanni Alessi Anghini, Gregor Luippold, Dan Harden, Nikolaus Frank, Rita Missoni, Henrik Hobæk, Claus Jensen, Arman Emami, Barbara Schmidt, MAD Architects, Standardarchitecture,  Burak Emre Altınordu, and Giulio Liacchetti.

“These designers,” states Mr. Narkiewicz-Laine, “”believe that an object can no longer be designed as a single  isolated entity, their reaction is to conceive of their designs in terms of environments and to propose objects that  are flexible in function and permit multiple modes of use and arrangement.”

“These objects,” continues Mr. Narkiewicz-Laine, “add to the growing need that products designed for our human environments improve our lives and our societies or as Eero Saarinen, founder of GOOD DESIGN in 1950  stated: ‘The purpose of architecture is to shelter and enhance man’s life on earth and to fulfill his belief in the  nobility of his existence’.”

 “The Changing Domestic Landscape” continues at Contemporary Space Athens through May 19.

For more information and press photographs, contact Ira Livadioti, Director of Administration, at +30/210-342 8511 or by email at ira@europeanarch.eu

CONTEMPORARY SPACE ATHENS

74 Mitropoleos Str.

GR-105 63 Athens

GREECE

TEL: +30/210 342 8511  FAX: +30/210 342 8512

The changing Domestic Landscape Exhibition