"Sustainable is beautiful" awards ceremony
The awards ceremony of the student competition entitled "Sustainable is beautiful" took place on 23rd September. On this occasion, the jury awarded a mention to the project "SIB" conceived by Ivan Lopes Ferreira and Ahmed Al-Atwi and the first prize to the project "Espace Verre", conceived by Christophe Alhanko and Simon Zangger. Organized by the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) in the framework of the course "Construction and sustainability (CCD), with the support of the Vaud section of the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects (SIA) and the company Vetropack, this competition has allowed the award winners to develop in detail the conceptual vision and to realize it during the summer holidays.
The approach was to create - with a minimum of means - an exhibition space illustrating the principles of sustainability and showing a balanced harmony of the means used, a coherent constructive process (from vision to dismantling) and a creative use of materials with low environmental impacts and economic costs.
Representing as much the academic domain as the professional practice, the jury was composed of Prof. Emmanuel Rey, Dan Bolomey (lecturer), Raphaël Schüll (assistant), Astrid Dettling, architect, representing the SIA and Sandra Maccagnan, architect, partner of Fournier & Maccagnan in Bex (VD). After a thorough analysis of the propositions in June 2013, the winners - unanimously elected - were Christophe Alhanko and Simon Zangger for their project « Espace Verre ».
The winning project is based on the development of a new type of brick associating recycled glass and wax in order to create a new element that is simple, resistant, translucent and reversible. The manufacturing process required not only the technical development of the element itself, but also the testing of the mold, the manufacturing, the installation and the disassembly. Almost 130 bricks were handcrafted by students and tested to achieve an element of exhibition in the reception area of the school. The jury particularly praised the originality of the approach, the integration of recycling into the architectural design and the novel aesthetics of the component.