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