With 90+ categories and 300+ jurors, the Architizer A+Awards is the world’s definitive architectural awards program. In anticipation of the Awards Gala and Phaidon book launch on May 14, we are pleased to share the stories behind the winners of the 2015 Awards program — see all of them here.
Ken Architekten won the 2015 A+Awards, Jury Award, for the Multi-Unit Housing – Mid Rise (5-15 Floors) Category with Bruggerberg. Clinging to the contours of the existing terrain, this terraced house is composed of 16 condominium apartments that are fused together into an oblique-angled form.
Your name: Lorenz Peter
Firm name: Ken Architekten
Location: Zürich
Education: Dipl. Architekt ETH Zürich
When did you decide that you wanted to be an architect?
Franz Füegg, the architect of the internationally renowned church in Meggen was a friend of our family. When I was a small child, my parents worked with him to renovate our villa. His creativity and aura made a lasting impression on me, even then. I still consider his church for one of the most important modern buildings in Switzerland.
First architecture/design job:
Our first project was a multiunit housing next to the river Limmat. The building is a simple and robust concrete structure, which staged the spectacular setting for nine apartments.
Design hero and/or favorite building:
It is hard to pick because there are various architectural languages that intrigues us.
Buildings that move me include the Salk Institute by Louis Kahn, the Institut du Monde Arabe by Jean Nouvel, and the Rolex Center by SANAA.
What do you find exciting about architecture and design right now?
We enjoy the creative freedom to explore specific solutions for each project. On the other hand, it is challenging to find solutions within the legal boundaries of extremely detailed regulations.
Tell us something that people might not know about your A+Award submission:
The project is quite a landmark and provoked the community of the small town it is in, which nicknamed it “muck castle” because of its dimensions and the unusual natural coloring. We don’t mind because we prefer our buildings to provoke people than to leave them indifferent. The intention of our architecture is to find strong solutions.
Which jurors do you find most compelling and why?
What particularly impressed us is the number of jurors. Among the 300, Olafur Eliasson stands out as an artist whose work we follow with interest.
Outside of architecture, where do you look for inspiration?
We find inspiration in all kinds of places: nature, art, history, and all parts of society. We carefully analyze the surroundings of a project and start from there. In Bruggerberg, we played with the conventional type of terraced houses, exploring a contemporary interpretation of this typology. The building is completely adapted to the topography of the landscape — it seems to become part of the mountain.
See all of the 2015 A+Award Winners here and all of the Winner Q+As here — and preorder the book from Phaidon here.