NEB Prizes 2023: All Applications

The project works on the idea of a new memorial, where personal memory, like a seed, becomes an active element, not relegated just to the past but capable of growing and creating future. Reconnection with nature is discovered through the image of the life cycle which does not end in death, but continues in the growth of a new collective garden. Dominated by nature, the space will allow people to take care of something and let it grow while learning and respecting biological rythmes.

Our project is about deconstructing daily life in Milan into fragments and reconstructing different experiences of time in a new narrative. Using the site as a foundation, we have created 3 chapters that represent different orders of time: the frozen moment; the time towards death; and the time of growth. We chose different materials to present the story of visualised time for each experiencer.

The project presents a critical reading of the underutilised spaces – or leftovers – of today’s city and investigates a model of urban densification that is conceived to support local communities and their economies. Using the neighbourhood of Nordvest, Copenhagen as a case study, 200 leftovers has been mapped out and sixteen low-impact designs conceptualised. The entire vision aims to offer a replicable design framework which can be implemented through locally driven initiatives.

tunstadtmachen stands for collective urban activation of no-places. Translated as “to do”, “city” and “to make” it creates an active wordplay. “Stadt - City” could also be read as “statt - instead”. We strengthen the processes from the bottom up and balance the forces between formal and informal participation. In our real laboratory, the “Waage”, we research the potentials of empty urban spaces. Together we form a counter culture that takes responsibility for its city and its public spaces.

This concept aims to bridge a perceived gap between human urban culture and nature by reconnecting citizens with the work of the hand in relation to sustainable production and a heritage of knowledge.

This research questions the (in)visible traces that the extraction of construction materials has in the landscape. An individual house built with local resources interrogates the relationship between the territory and its raw materials. Re-engaging with local materials goes beyond the simple dimension of thermal calculations and environmental. Alternative housing concepts thus establish a contemporary territorial narrative based on a sensitive use of materials and simple construction methods.

During lockdown, a biology student who lived on the outskirts of Matera (Italy) started growing vegetables and trees on an abandoned patch of land next to his home. Friends and neighbours joined him to learn about agriculture, socialize and build a compost bin and a gazebo. “Noi Ortadini” (the citizen gardeners) is now an official community garden, offering events and workshops such as gardening, ecosystem restoration, outdoor education for children and debates on climate change and sustainable lifestyles.

Home+ is a startup that specializes in the design of unique tourist accommodation, manufactured 100% in Spain and with an industrialized system in timber that guarantees a minimal impact on the environment. We propose a new approach that uses the strength of industrialization and digitalization to develop a timber manufacturing system that allows us to produce accommodation in a more +sustainable, + personalized and +efficient production process.

The subject of the project is mass customisation in architecture, based on the example of an architectural design of a single-family estate in Warsaw. The project proposes a wooden prefabricated system, designed in a way that offers maximum variability of configurations, with a minimum number of used elements. The system comes with a design of a circular process that allows a customer to configure the architecture of the house in an accesible way, adjusting it to individal preferences.

Nature is the most beautiful. To enjoy her beauty even when you are at home in the house is invaluable. The basic concept of Pure Home is easy construction with wood and hemp (or straw). As if it were to combine the lego cubes and containers. The basic structure is made of wood - in the form of a cube. Except for the essential walls made of hemp / or straw, everything is in the glass. All in all, it consists of wooden joints that make it possible to adjust the home.