grafton architects wins silver lion award at 2012 venice architecture biennale

irish practice grafton architects, recipient of the silver lion, has been featured in the padiglione centrale at the 2012 architectural biennale in venice, showcasing the UTEC university campus in lima, peru as part of the exhibition titles ‘architecture as new geography.’ before setting out on the design phase, grafton called upon the help of prtizker prize winner paulo mendes da rocha for cues on building in this radically different environment, specifically looking at his ‘serra dourada stadium’ in line with the idea of the school as an ‘arena for learning.’ this design process of this project demonstrates the importance of collaboration and being open to external influence, exemplifying the theme of the biennale: ‘common ground.’

large scale models of paulo mendes da rocha sit opposite UTEC university models
image © alice clancy (also main image)

university models
image © designboom

photos and drawings backdrop the models giving a sense of context
image © designboom

models of paulo mendes da rocha projects
image © designboom

image © designboom

image © designboom

image © designboom

image © designboom

image © alice clancy

image © alice clancy

exhibition layout
image courtesy of grafton architects

serra dourada stadium photos
image © paulo mendes da rocha archive

perspective of UTEC
image courtesy of grafton architects

UTEC render
image © grafton architects

UTEC render
image © grafton architects

model
image © alice clancy

model
image courtesy of grafton architects

elevation sketch
image courtesy of grafton architects

university of toulouse
image © grafton architects

university of toulouse
image © grafton architects

model
image © alice clancy

stone model by sculptor eileen mac donagh
image © alice clancy

project info:

team: yvonne farrell, shelley mcnamara, ger carty, philippe o’sullivan, simona castelli, kieran o’brien, matt mccullagh, james rossa o’hare, donal o’herlihy, joanne lyons, davidj. healy, ivan o’connel, edwin jebb
sculptor: eileen macdonagh
client: UTEC lima
thanks to: annette spiro, marta moreira / MMBB, frederick cooper, hugh campbell, klaus bode, dermot foley landscape architects

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