AWARD FOR SACRED LANDSCAPE
Freedom Pavilion — World Peace Warsaw , Poland Faculty of Architecture , Warsaw University of Technology
Peace , unity , solidarity , freedom — these are the values symbolized by the Warsaw Freedom Pavilion , erected in Royal Baths Park
and designed by a team of architects and students . It was their semester project , carried out under the supervision of experienced architects , urban planners , and engineers . The grand opening of the pavilion took place on July 1 , 2023 , the day of the Architecture Celebration .
This outdoor installation , designed as a place for relaxation and leisure , embodies the concept of universal sacredness , a place to experience the divine through contact with nature . This project is also an expression of solidarity with Ukraine , currently fighting for freedom .
The round shape of the pavilion symbolizes unity , and in the context of the war in Ukraine , it also represents safety . The interior of the wooden , latticed installation is filled with sunflowers , which allude to the yellow color of the Ukrainian flag . The white canvas roof evokes a sail , expressing freedom . The circular form fits into the composition of the historic gardens where it was built . Previously , a round flower bed stood at the location of the installation .
JURY COMMENTS : The symbolism is interesting and connects well with the history of sacred space . It is a form that makes you feel that you are being held , embraced . The construction is a kit of parts that can be assembled and then demounted and moved to another place . The temporary quality is appropriate .
Krzysztof Koszewski & Bartosz Kucharski
HONOR AWARD FOR STUDENT WORK
The Borges Cloisters Austin , TX Gabriel Colombo
The Borges Cloisters is a master ’ s thesis in architecture that explores the sacredness of urban spaces and land . The thesis reimagines part of the Austin State Hospital ’ s languishing campus in Austin , Texas , as a communal urban village structured around cloisters of varied shape , size , and ecology , embodying an urbanism where architecture , city , and landscape entwine .
Austin is the city where the 20th-century Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges wrote that he “ discovered America ” in 1963 : a city that reminded him of his native Buenos Aires . Borges ’ s early poetry evokes the sacredness of ordinary urban spaces , imagining patios , for instance , as places where the “ sky flows into the house .” The cloister , similarly , is the heart of the monastic polis , synthesizing street , public square , and paradise garden and situating daily life at the “ crossway of the stars .”
The cloister offers an ideal typology for the urgent ecological task of urban rewilding : the practice of reawakening latent ecosystems in their sacred complexity . Less a means of exclusion than of inviting the soul to turn inward , the cloister can become a rich space for reconnecting cities with the land to which they belong .
JURY COMMENTS : This student project is exquisite : the renderings are works of art . It is a contemporary design that enters into the realm of the medieval , revealing the student ’ s hand . It exudes thoughtfulness and care on the part of the designer .
28 SACRED PLACES • SUMMER 2024