Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos from the internationally acclaimed architecture practice, UNStudio, have won this year's Jencks Award. The presentation of the award will take place at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) on Tuesday 16 October 2007, followed by a public lecture. The Jencks Award is presented annually to an individual or practice who has recently made a major contribution both to the theory and practice of architecture internationally.
UNStudio works across the fields of urbanism, infrastructure, and public, private and utility buildings. Some recent projects include the Light*House in Aarhus, Denmark, the Music Theatre in Graz, Austria and ViLA NM in the US. Ben van Berkel will be talking about their recent work in the Jencks Award Lecture, chaired by Charles Jencks, on 16 October at 6.30pm, at the Jarvis Hall, RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London, W1B 1AD.
Speaking about the Jencks Award, Charles Jencks said:
"The New Paradigm in architecture has been theorised for more than ten years but built convincingly by only a few. UN Studio, with its Mercedes Benz Museum and recent buildings, is producing an elegant fusion where advanced geometry and brute matter reveal unexpectedly pleasing results, the happy synergy of theory and practice at a high level."
Ben van Berkel studied architecture at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and at the Architectural Association in London, receiving the AA Diploma with Honours in 1987. In 1988 he and Caroline Bos set up an architectural practice in Amsterdam. The Van Berkel & Bos Architectuurbureau has realized amongst others projects the Karbouw office building, the Erasmus bridge in Rotterdam, museum Het Valkhof in Nijmegen, the Moebius house and the NMR facilities for the University of Utrecht.
In 1998 Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos established a new firm: UNStudio (United Net). UNStudio presents itself as a network of specialists in architecture, urban development and infrastructure. Current projects are the restructuring of the station area of Arnhem, a shopping mall renovation in Kaohsiung, a masterplan for Basauri, a music theatre for Graz and the design and restructuring of the Harbor Ponte Parodi in Genoa. UNStudio has realized amongst others the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, a façade and interior renovation for the Galleria Department store in Seoul and a private villa in up-state New York.
Ben van Berkel has lectured and taught at many architectural schools around the world. Currently he is Professor of Conceptual Design at the Staedelschule in Frankfurt am Main. Central to his teaching is the inclusive approach of architectural works integrating virtual and material organization and engineering constructions.
Previous recipients of the prestigious Jencks Award include Zaha Hadid; Foreign Office Architects; Peter Eisenman; and Cecil Balmond.
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