NEB Prizes 2022: All Applications

It was a former industrial facility providing heating to the pride of the old regime that was once the biggest congressional center in the Balkans. Now it is the shiny new center for contemporary arts called Toplocentrala that warms the hearts of independent artists and companies in Sofia and beyond. The City of Sofia responded creatively and acted decisively to bring a welcome change to an urban environment, improve the quality of life of many and give a good example to everyone.

This initiative aims to promote the interest of children in the area to traditional Bulgarian values, life and culture. Everyone child from Smolyan region could take part of this competition with its own photos wearing traditional Rhodope costume. Only the children of the organizers of the initiative could not take part.

The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in large amounts of surplus vegetables that farmers and auctions struggled to sell due to lockdown closures. The economic shock caused rising unemployment and a growing number of people lacked the resources to feed their families. Operation Robin Food was launched to turn the surplus harvest into soup. This was then distributed to people in need. Citizens - and the Belgian king - raised funds by running or walking for the crowdfunding campaign ‘Covid-19 Challenge’.

BASIS Vinschgau Venosta is a Social Activation Hub, initiated as a community project of regeneration of the former military areal and barracks Caserma Druso in South Tyrol. BASIS Vinschgau Venosta offers spaces, community events, network facilitation, and educational formats to enable the exchange of experiences, shared learning, and practical ways of doing. In this way BASIS Vinschgau Venosta facilitates the goal of all people involved to experiment in the activation and building of new ideas.

Heritage management institution, local arts initiative, urban gardening community and passionate heritage volunteers working together for 5 years to change the abandoned First World War heritage site to a resilient community hub in harmony with nature and history.

Largely based on voluntary effort and with limited funds, this has been a long, open co-creation process which has led to a unique place for arts and culture, biodiversity and community urban gardening with sustainability at heart.

Podlesie Park was established as a ‘workers park’in the 70s by the executives of major State-owned factories of Dąbrowa Górnicza. Remembered as a place full of life, the Park has become seriously degraded. It was selected for revitalization in 2019. The design was developed through a participatory co-design process. It allowed Podlesie Park to revive as a local multifunctional space, addressing various needs of local residents of all ages and preserving its woodland character.

"The Epilobs" project consists of the construction of 84 social housing units, divided into 7 buildings set on stilts with heights varying from R+2 to R+6, allowing a volumetric transition with the neighbouring blocks.
Built in raw concrete, these masses of varied forms touch the common spaces with a field character and are naturally connected to the Mussonvile park, a real urban forest.

TORRE FLOR is a building 12 stories high created for 51 families. A project placed on a hill very close to one of the greatest parks in the city of Madrid, the Dehesa de la Villa. The condition of the site turns the building into a watchtower of the city, a place to see and interact with its urban and natural surroundings. A solid but agile construction that learns form nature and becomes a flower that grows with the light that comes from every direction and from the ground where it's placed.

Do you also prefer to take your work outdoors? Are you meeting your colleagues in a city park close to home? Do you have phone conversations whilst walking outside? Do you find yourself grabbing a table and chairs from your home or office, placing them on a balcony, on the pavement or garden in order to read or write? Work, well-being and urban nature are indivisibly linked.

Celebrate on 16th of June 2022 the necessity to work more healthily by taking your office outdoors: #outdoorofficeday
 

Sara Cultural Centre is housing the regional theatre, two art museums and the city library as well as a hotel and conference centre. It is a place for
concerts, performances, meetings, exhibitions and events and will also have the capacity for large conferences. Sara is built for perpetual transformation
with large, open spaces that encourage meetings between people in a welcoming environment. An open living room in the city. All housed in one of
the worlds largest and tallest wooden buildings.