In anticipation of the upcoming deadline for the 2015 A+ Awards, we’re featuring facts you didn’t know about some of last year’s winners. These innovative designs don’t just happen overnight. Well, number six sort of did… Find out more about how these unique projects got our attention:
1. Mix Work and Play
Supermass Studio was the 2014 Jury Award winner for Architecture +Collaboration with Swingtones.
Fact: This collaborative art installation was actually built by Supermass Founder Taewook Cha’s 11-year-old daughter alongside 88 other children at BEAM Camp in New Hampshire. Swingtones is an interactive visual and acoustic installation where a series of wooden swings connect to sculptural metal chimes that hang from a tree canopy.
2. If You Need It, Build It
Living Cube Furniture was the 2014 Popular Choice winner in the Products +Living category with Living Cube.
Fact: Designer Till Könneker said the project was originally created out of a personal need, not for sale. “The idea came in a sleepless night and after I drew the first sketch I could finally sleep,” he said. The sleek design serves as both a storage unit and visible shelving system so you’ve got space for the things you want to see.
3. A First for Everything
Archetonic was the 2014 Jury Award winner in the Typology Memorials category with 100 Years of Jewish Immigration Through Veracruz Port in Mexico: Parallel Lives.
Fact: Each of the memorial’s 100 sculpted stone pieces represent one year that the Jewish community has been living in Mexico. Architect Jacobo Micha notes that this is the world’s first monument to commemorate the arrival of Jews to any physical place.
4. Go Down the Rabbithole
Standard Architecturewas the 2014 Jury Award winner in the Architecture +Mobility category with the Salford Meadows Bridge.
Fact: The Salford Meadows Bridge was actually inspired by the deep and twisted rabbit hole from Alice in Wonderland, according to Standard Architecture’s Jeffrey Allsbrook. This British bridge will gradually become overgrown with vines, creating an otherworldly walk from the city into the nearby meadow.
5. Always Check Your Mail
GPT+Architecture Design was the 2014 Jury Award Winner in the Architecture +Technology category with Biotic-Tech Skyscraper City.
Fact: Liu Ruifeng and his team at GPT+ found out about their big win in an unconventional way. “Our mail got lost and found out that we are winners when we visited the Architizer website,” he said. “It was an unexpected surprise.” This futuristic sustainable cityscape is very A+. Did they really think they lost?
6. Pull an All-Nighter
HEAD Architecture won the 2014 Jury Award in the Architecture +Branding category with Great Food Hall.
Fact: Hong Kong’s Great Food Hall remained completely open for business while the entire store was renovated. In just ten phases, the architects and construction team worked mostly over a series of nights to complete this massive rebranding project.