At the intersection between multiple disciplines, the Prix Versailles World Judges Panel once again had the honour of shining a light on the best in contemporary architecture.
Chaired this year by philosopher Gilles Lipovetsky (France), the World Judges Panel also includes the architects Thom Mayne (United States), Lu Wenyu (China) and Thomas Vonier (United States), the designer Jasper Morrison (United Kingdom), the disc jockey Charlotte de Witte (Bel-gium), the filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Chad - France) and the mountaineer Samina Baig (Pakistan).
A total of 24 projects from around the world were celebrated this year from amongst the 94 finalists shortlisted by the World Selections (in the categories of Airports, Campuses, Passenger Stations and Sports) or recognized as continental laureates (in the categories of Shops & Stores, Shopping Malls, Hotels and Restaurants).
The Official Announcement, which took place at UNESCO Headquarters on 19 December 2022, gave Gilles Lipovetsky the opportunity to reiterate the excellence of the finalist projects.
This year’s choice of laureates – which pays tribute to innovation, creativity, reflections of local heritage, ecological efficiency and the values of social interaction and participation which the United Nations holds in high regard – is in line with the principles of intelligent sustainability, taking the projects’ ecological, social and cultural impacts into consideration.
2022 WORLD JURY
JASPER MORRISON Designer (United Kingdom)
THOM MAYNE Architect (United States)
CHARLOTTE de WITTE Disc jockey (Belgium)
LU WENYU Architect (China)
MAHAMAT-SALEH HAROUN Film director (Chad - France)
GILLES LIPOVETSKY Philosopher, Chairman of the World Jury (France)
SAMINA BAIG Mountaineer (Pakistan)
2022 OFFICIAL WORLD AWARDS
AIRPORTS
PRIX VERSAILLES: Los Angeles International Airport, West Gates Terminal, Los Angeles, CA, United States
image © Los Angeles World Airports
The new 15-gate West Gates Terminal serves as an expansion of the Tom Bradley West International Terminal. It is connected to TBIT by a 1,000-ft-long underground pedestrian tunnel with moving walkways, in addition to a separate utilities tunnel for baggage and services.
The façade system includes a mix of metal panel and glazing systems with integrated structural support system that is cost-effective and performance driven. The concourse features a curvilinear metal roof structure with clerestory glazing to maximize daylighting.
A three-story insulated glass façade blends seamlessly into the curved roof structure with a unique interface to the curved ceiling on the interior.
West Gates features three feature picture windows, which provide expansive views and daylight. The windows are up to 50-feet high and incorporate two moment frames at the end of each opening to provide lateral stability for seismic movements.
The interior finishes and colors were selected to reflect the facility's location and are based on the urban fabric of Los Angeles. The main core of the building is considered the "downtown" area due to the high ceilings and elevator towers. Colorful mosaic tiles pay homage to the mid-century modern design of LAX, with colors changing to denote the different neighborhoods from the desert to the sea.
Corgan / Gensler / Walter P Moore / Turner-PCL
Special prize Interior: Helsinki Airport, Terminal 2, Vantaa, Finland
image © Tuomas Uusheimo
The newly opened expansion of Helsinki Airport brings adventure and romance back to air travel. It also improves the functionality of the airport, built in multiple phases starting from the 50s. In 2016, the airport operator Finavia launched a design competition for the expansion and modification of terminal 2. The competition task included relocating the departures and arrivals halls to a new building so that the existing departures hall of terminal 2 could be turned into gate areas.
The 43,000 SqM departures and arrivals building comprises two distinct volumes; the first defined by its wooden ceiling, the second by its blue color. In addition to the departures and arrivals halls, the first volume contains a multimodal travel center, and the second the areas for security control, customs and baggage reclaim. As the new building connects directly to the old one, it follows the traditional logic of separating the flows of departing and arriving passengers onto different levels.
For years, architects have aimed at creating illusions of flying and of overall lightness with their designs for terminal roofs and ceilings. This is true also at Helsinki Airport – the ceilings of the older construction phases are seemingly lightweight and tectonic. Even the ceiling of the new departures hall plays with the concept of lightness but combines it with extreme weight. The use of steel structures has enabled the construction of both the column-free departures hall and the massive entrance canopy. These structures are hidden inside the ceiling made of prefabricated timber units. Its thickness is noticeable when looking at the deep recess of the skylight in the center of the check-in area. The plasticity of the overall form however makes the ceiling seem as if it was floating in the air. The flowing shapes of the spruce boards resembling contour lines turn it into an upside-down version of a three-dimensional map that leads the passengers’ thoughts towards the sky above the runway.
The low-rise blue security control volume between the new departures hall and the old terminal is recognizable already from further away. The color continues from the exterior cladding to inside the building. When entering the departures hall, the departing passengers will immediately notice the blue area behind the check-in kiosks. In addition to improving recognizability, the blue color also has a calming effect in the sometimes-stressful security control situation.
On the lower level, the first thing the arriving passengers see after having passed through customs, is the ‘Luoto’ nature diorama, a freeform installation with trees, shrubs and stones in a large cor-ten planter. ‘Luoto’ combines the characteristics of Finnish nature with Japanese garden art. It is visible also from the upper departures level through the opening in the middle of the check-in area.Whereas when looking up through the opening, the arriving passengers will see both the wooden ceiling and the blue sky visible through the skylight above.
ALA Architects
Special prize Exterior: Thessaloniki Airport “Makedonia”, Terminal 2, Thessaloniki, Greece
image © Nikos Daniilidis
The new terminal building at Thessaloniki Airport marks a departure from the existing site aesthetics and arrives at a new design destination. While referencing the original terminal through some structural details, the vision for this project was to reflect the composite elements of metropolitan life.
At 32,000 sqm, the site is enveloped by a glass facade. On this simple surface, lattice detail runs across the exterior. Matt black gate exits are housed within idiosyncratic forms created from honeycomb aluminum panels, which sit on the airside of the terminal building. Meanwhile, a series of interior footbridges seamlessly connect the terminal buildings.
The design is delivered within strict and specific regulations, ensuring that the interiors are heavily insulated against outside noise. To do this, a custom facade system was designed. Such insulation allows for the free flow of natural light that enters and fills the building. Well proportioned check in areas and baggage claim also emphasise the spaciousness of the interior.
Bobotis+Bobotis Architects
CAMPUSES
PRIX VERSAILLES: London School of Economics and Political Science, Marshall Building, London, UK
image © Nick Kane
The building is a major new development for LSE, establishing a new presence for the university on Lincoln's Inn Fields as part of their campus in the heart of London.
Situated on the ‘shoreline’ between the formal setting of the fields to the north and a more intricate urban grain to the south, the building form adjusts to this context, maintaining a unified expression onto Lincoln’s Inn Fields while adapting to the geometry of the site and the more fractured street pattern to the south.
Facing the Fields, the lower levels form a datum clad in Portland stone. The façade is more open towards the sky, with screens and fins profiled to reflect sunlight and provide shading from the west. To the south, the facades are modelled to balance shading and daylight.and create connections to Sheffield Street and to John Watkins Plaza. Entrances, screened terrace gardens, solid gables, and a regular rhythm of windows come together to form a unified but dynamic form.
At approximately 18,000m2 the building houses lecture theatres, informal study spaces, academic offices, music rehearsal and arts facilities, squash courts and a 20mx35m sports hall. To accommodate this range of uses a rotating structure was developed to creatively address the need to transfer from the smaller spans at the upper levels, to the ever increasing spans required at ground and lower ground levels. This led to a weave of ‘tree like’ columns and beams which direct the forces of gravity to the ground, through the increasing outward spread of tapered diagonal ‘branches’.
Under these tree branches at the ground floor a new social space for the university is created - ‘the Great Hall’. Conceived as a covered piazza with a sloping terrazzo floor it allows level access at all three entrances. Lecture theatres and classrooms at the first and second levels are gathered around an open student commons - forming a grand ‘piano nobile’. The walls of these spaces are gently curved to flow under and around the structural ‘branches’ and columns. Lined with acoustically absorbent timber panelling these walls integrate benches and desks for informal study.
Above this space, the academic offices are arranged as three wings which rotate to the geometry of the site and maximise natural ventilation and daylight. These volumes step in height from nine floors at the south, to seven floors overlooking the fields. Landscaping is integrated in the fissures between blocks where terraces and gardens are formed.
A stepped atrium skewers these different worlds together, drawing zenithal light deep into the plan. Conceived as an external court, it’s walls are lined with narrow concrete fins and inset acoustic panels to soften sound transfer between the levels. Stairs and small meeting rooms weave in and out this space, creating opportunities for overlap and exchange.
The sports facilities are accessed from ground level, through the ‘Great Hall’ or by an external stair which descends into the lightwell at the north and gives access to the bicycle parking. This lightwell creates a visual connection into the large volumes of the sports hall and squash courts which occupy the lower ground levels.
In summary, this building houses four different worlds stacked vertically and rising from below ground to the sky. The world of sport, civic space, teaching, research, are all volumetrically and structurally interwoven. This is a microcosm of the city, with a multiplicity of uses forming a rich and nourishing environment for university life.
Grafton Architects
Special prize Interior: University of Birmingham Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
image © Yasser Ibrahim
University of Birmingham Dubai is located at the heart of the city’s academic quarter, Dubai International Academic City (DIAC), the largest education hub in the Middle East and home of many international universities.
Hopkins have designed a building which responds appropriately to its local context whilst referencing the University of Birmingham’s origins. Facing onto nearby parkland, the campus contributes to a wider masterplan, creating a walkable district with attractive pedestrian routes and better connectivity to surrounding facilities.
The crescent-shaped building echoes the University’s historic Aston Webb Building in Birmingham. Proportions and materials, including a precast structural system with textured red precast façade echoes the solidity of form expressed at the original ‘red brick’ campus, the UK’s first civic University.
Designed to operate within the challenging climatic conditions of Dubai, every opportunity has been explored to integrate environmentally responsive and efficient design measures.
The building is 50% solid, with a modular façade system designed to allow for quality, factory-controlled construction whilst contributing to efficient site operation and fast erection.
Bespoke integrated shading to all windows and glazed facades, can respond to different solar orientations with adjustable angles which offer views out but reduce solar gain and lighting consumption. Exposed precast soffits and façades provide thermal mass to help control the thermal temperature from within and an external colonnade provides shaded circulation around the building. BMS controls to all spaces will help to monitor occupancy uses and further reduce any unnecessary energy consumption. Materials have been selected which can be locally produced with low embodied energy.
Hopkins Architects
Special prize Exterior: Paris Institute of Political Studies, 1 Saint-Thomas, Paris, France
image © Maris Mezulis_Moreau Kusunoki
Located in the heart of the block on a largely built-up plot in one of the most touristic districts of Paris, this project aims to bring together in the former Hôtel de l'Artillerie several teaching and research units of Sciences Po which had been scattered until then.
The main concern of the architects of Wilmotte & Associés therefore consisted in opening up the plot, connecting the 3 existing courtyards by a major circulation axis, and linking this new campus to the building at 13 rue de l'Université, another property of the 'school. This, in order to offer Sciences Po students a large single and unified site of 20,000 m², with fluid circulation, while preserving the majesty of buildings with high heritage value.
The architectural prowess of this project lies in the extraordinary underpinning work carried out to connect, without distorting them, these three historic courtyards and allow optimum functioning. By building a large horizontal beam of 4,300 m² on which the old buildings rest, the objective is to give the existing buildings a contemporary base, unifying and guaranteeing the unity of the place.
All designed with respect for the environment, three beautiful gardens have been created in each of the courtyards, beautifully landscaped by the MUGO agency.
In the Gribeauval courtyard, the largest of the three, the architects Moreau Kuzunoki under the supervision of Wilmotte & Associés imagined an Emergence on 4 levels, signaling a sober and contemporary intervention. In order to encourage meetings and allow the organization of major events, the architects have set up in front of this emerged part of the base an open-air amphitheater in the manner of a terraced garden.
Combining heritage, nature and innovation in the heart of the historic city, this achievement lays the groundwork for a new typology of urban campus for the 21st century.
Wilmotte & Associés / Pierre Bortolussi / Moreau Kusunoki
PASSENGER STATIONS
PRIX VERSAILLES: Expo 2020 Metro Station, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
image © Khalid Elsaid
A vibrant city with track record of fast growth has won the bid to host the World Expo 2020 eight years ago. A significant driver for the Emirate’s economy, the Expo has boosted both onsite and offsite activities and investments from pre-event to legacy.
An extension to the existing Dubai Metro network, and a key pre-event investment in the city’s infrastructure, delivering an efficient and reliable public transport service to the Expo site, while serving existing and planned developments.
A welcome point integrating various modes of transportation (metro, bus, taxi, and soft mobility) for the event and legacy.
The station as focal point provides a direct link for passengers to the Expo site. After the event, 80% of the expo’s built environment will be repurposed into an integrated mixed-use community named District 2020.
On the western side, the station also connects to a new mall, a park, and communal green area as well as the expo village; which will be transformed into a new residential neighborhood during legacy.
Since its inauguration in 2009, Dubai Metro has contributed to value increase of residential and commercial properties by 13% and 76% respectively. Expo 2020 station is expected to follow the same path, working as a driver of urban transformation and economic development with long-lasting effects.
A Celebration of Light
Designed to be an iconic arrival at Expo 2020, Expo station design shapes the urban landscape with its dynamic forms and patterns inspired by a futuristic concept of Dubai in a connected and technological world. The Expo station is developed on three levels and can accommodate a peak of 14500 passengers per hour in each direction.
The station’s interior design creates a memorable arrival at the expo, with an inner void filled with filtered light that links the main levels physically, and the canopy visually into the station. This light infused void is experienced through large central ramps and stairs connecting platforms and concourse in a continuous movement. The movements is then carried through the floor pattern which is accentuated by light to guide passengers through the main axis of the station.
Special prize Interior: Duomo Metro Station, Naples, Italy
image © Roland Halbe for Metropolitana di Napoli SpA
The ‘Duomo’ station of Line 1 of the Naples Subway is located in Piazza Nicola Amore, a historic Neapolitan square at the crossroads between Via Duomo and Corso Umberto I, thus becoming the main access point to the historic city centre after the Central Station located in Piazza Garibaldi.
The direct connection to the Duomo and the southern part of the city - with the ancient borough of Mercato and the historic borough of Orefici - will mobilize a significant flow of citizens and tourists.
The collaboration between Metropolitana di Napoli S.p.A. and the Superintendence for Archeological and Architectural Heritage has allowed to enhance, starting from the very design phase, the base of a temple dating back to the 1st century AD, a Flavian-era portico and a gymnasium running track, which were brought to light during the first excavations.
The new Duomo station is part of the larger project of the Naples Underground, a wide-ranging cultural operation involving major names in art and architecture on the international scene.
The project represents an important opportunity both to safeguard and protect the archeological area by ensuring its proper use and fruition, while respecting the daily relationship between architecture and history. The archaeological findings have been a fundamental point during the whole design phase: the temple, found at -1.85 m. depth has been brought up to +4.25 m. height thus creating an evocative museum space overlapped to the underground levels of the station.
A geodesic bubble cover, which will be completed in the coming months, has been designed in order to protect the temple. The steel structure is made up of triangular glass surfaces, which allow for the direct natural lighting of the temple. The transparency of the glass permits a readability and visual continuity from the outside towards the inside, thus giving lightness to the volume, which is placed at the center of the square.
The station is articulated on two levels, allowing users to choose whether to enter the excavation or
perceive its presence while continuing their usual path to the trains.
At the first underground level, conceptually inscribed within the basic ellipse of the cover “bubble”, one can find the temple and the museum space. At the second underground level, the mezzanine floor, the perceptual experience is dedicated to mobility and urban travel. Colors, lighting, geometric textures and mirrored surfaces mark the rhythm of the journey while accompanying the passengers to the train platforms.
The project returns the suggestion of the archaeological discovery in its making, and strongly proposes the idea of the in depth excavation, as if to return the emotion of ‘going underneath’, of penetrating with sinuous and non-geometric paths into the subsoil, looking for ancient findings.
All the elements of the architectural space, including the covering materials - bright scotch steel for the walls and the ceiling, travertine slabs for the floors - generate an ideal scenography, as a backround, for the temple.
Studio Fuksas
Special prize Exterior: Al Furjan Metro Station, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
image © Khalid Elsaid
Al Furjan Metro Station is a station on the Red Line of the Dubai Metro. The station opened in 2021 as part of the Route 2020 extension.
The station is on an elevated track above Gardens Boulevard, between the developments of Al Furjan and Discovery Gardens.
Arep
Road and Transport Authority (RTA)
SPORTS
PRIX VERSAILLES: TQL Stadium, Cincinnati, OH, United States
image © Tom Harris
With a capacity of 26,000, TQL Stadium registers among the largest soccer-specific stadiums in the league. Its impact, however, reaches far beyond that. The stadium honors and enriches the legacy of soccer in the Queen City through a progressive design and ambitious interpretation of a Cincinnati on the rise.
It all starts with a façade inspired by the kinetic energy of the club’s fan base. More than 500 vertical fins wrap the exterior, each one connected to a one-of-a-kind LED lighting system that produces dazzling motion sequences. The fins themselves defy stasis, shaped in such a way that creates a singular twisting motion. The overall form signifies the tension between two teams about to take the pitch. A grand plaza staircase welcomes fans to it all, an entry sequence unlike any other in the MLS.
Inside, those fans are treated to a canopy that encloses the entire seating bowl and covers every seat in the house. Not only does the canopy bottle up their energy, it shields them from the elements. To the north, there’s The Bailey, an intimidating safe-standing section housing the club’s supporters – and to the southeast, a perfectly-framed view of the Cincy skyline. Continuing inward, a mix of premium spaces offer a modern slate of amenities, with each club inspired by a different theme authentic to Cincinnati.
Populous
Special prize Interior: Tochigi Sports Park, East Area, Utsunomiya, Japan
image © Gankohsha Photography
The project is a large-scale sports complex comprising a main arena, sub-arena, indoor swimming pool, and fitness functions that can be used for large-scale competitions and professional sports.
The site is located at the east end of Tochigi Sports Park where the Tochigi Prefectural Police Maneuver Center was originally built and is surrounded by residential areas. Given these characteristics, we believed it was important to consider overall seamlessness within the park and create a new hub of engagement centered around sports that were open to the local community.
The ground has been excavated down to the level of the underground passageway to create Koryu no Oka("Engagement Hill"), which gently connects the site with the central area of the park up to Marronnier Terrace on the second floor. This ensures a connected sense of unity with the park and the town. With Koryu no Oka, a safe pedestrian network has been formed across the entirety of Tochigi Sports Park, successfully creating a new place of relaxation for local residents.
In addition, the main arena, sub-arena, and indoor swimming pool have been arranged with Engagement Hill at the center to provide each access to all three buildings, making the facility easy for anyone to access on a regular basis. By creating a "see and be seen" relationship everywhere with the extensive use of glass walls, a wide range of activities can be communicated through sports and cultivate a bustling landscape.
For the exterior of the facility made up of three building volumes, we created a design that would give all three volumes with their different sizes and shapes a sense of unity and decided to represent stones inspired by the Oya Quarry for which Tochigi is famous. On the exterior walls, we created shade using a PC version of Nikko cedar board formwork to express the strength of Oya stone.
The tops and bottoms of the outer walls are designed without the use of metal edges, and the eaves have a special coating that evokes a sense of texture and mass. Further, to create a reality carved out of stone, we used actual Oya stone for the parts carved into vertical slit shapes to present an image with the unique flavor of Tochigi. The interior of the main corridor on the first floor, which connects the three buildings, was created with a focus on continuity from the vibrant and powerful exterior.
Specifically, based on the geometric patterns of traditional Kanuma-kumiko wood latticework, the lighting and floor signs are arranged in diagonal lines, creating a design that has the sense of movement befitting a sports facility. Additionally, some of the concrete on the walls has been carved out with water jets to create a powerful look that blends in with the exterior stonework. The sculptural expression of the exterior is also replicated in fine detail elsewhere, including the shape of the diving boards, reception counter, and signs, to produce a consistent worldview throughout the facility.
AZUSA SEKKEI / TAISEI DESIGN Planners Architects & Engineers / ANDO Architectural Design Office
Special prize Exterior: Al Thumama Stadium, Doha, Qatar
image © Heerim
Qatar Al Thumama Stadium is a newly built stadium to host 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar™ where it will welcome 40,000 football fans for matches up to the quarter-final match.
The mass and façade design was inspired by the traditional woven cap known in Qatar as the 'Gahfiya' and the stadium was designed with the images of floating from the ground in order to emphasize the lightness and transparency. Through this floating gap, the crowd can easily access to the stadium.
Heerim
Shops & Stores
Prix Versailles 2022: Burberry pop-up store, Jeju, South Korea
image © Burberry
British fashion brand Burberry has installed a pop-up store that reflects a surrounding mountain range on Jeju Island, South Korea.
Nestled at the foot of the Halla mountains on Jeju Island, The Imagined Landscapes Jeju is part of a series of Burberry outerwear pop-ups around the globe.
Made from plywood, timber and a reflective polycarbonate mirror material, the design is intended to marry nature with modernity and with the brand's contemporary identity.
The structure's undulating facade reflects the sky above and the nearby rolling hills, and also resembles the contour lines drawn to indicate elevation on topographic maps.
Shoppers can walk up to a viewing deck at the top of The Imagined Landscapes building via an external staircase that cuts through the structure.
The viewing platform offers panoramic views over the Sanbang Mountain, which is also located on the island, and of the surrounding seas.
A separate, smaller building a short walk from the mirrored structure houses a cafe.
Here, the interior is coloured in the same beige tones synonymous with the Burberry brand, including on a fabric with a deer print. Customers sit on chairs and tables covered in the same mirrored material found on the building's exterior.
Burberry
Special prize Interior 2022: Hermès Rive Gauche, Paris, France, RDAI
image © Guillaume Grasset
In 2010 Hermès opened a unique new store in Paris in the former Lutétia swimming pool, built in 1935 and listed as a Historic Monument. Thanks to a double project: first of all to renovate, respect, preserve and reinterpret the architecture of the swimming pool. Then, tell another story, resolutely contemporary. This takes shape with the appearance of three monumental ash huts that dialogue with the existing volumes. In 2021 the store will undergo a major renovation and expansion, bringing its surface to 1300m2. Of the existing store only will be preserved the 3 huts of braided ash wood, the monumental staircase and well obviously the original setting of the old swimming pool.
From the entrance, the transformation of the store is striking. Covered with wooden lathing, the walls and ceilings all in curves creates an aspiration towards the light, the huts and the large central volume of the swimming pool. Overall, the metamorphosis of the new store plays with the memory of water and with the "spirit of the place". The aquatic theme has inspired a set of materials and shapes, such as sculptural walls, textiles with iridescent reflections or carpets that seem to be intertwined puddles of water.
Ceramics (a material already very present in the existing swimming pool) is available in various formats, textures and colors to dress different spaces but also furniture such as tables and enamelled shelves cracked.
Mosaics, terrazzos and earthenware create a fresh and luminous chromatic palette, whose nuances of blue and green are warmed up with cream and caramel notes. The vast majority of materials have been the subject of specific and tailor-made developments, carried out by exceptional artisans.
On the walls, long peripheral corridors unfolds a colorful fresco (L’Odyssée d’Hermès) 120 meters long imagined and created by the French artist Matthieu Cossé. A literary café adorned with walls in earthenware with carbon fiber furniture, is installed on the mezzanine overlooking the old basin.
Although this store retains the Art Deco setting of the original swimming pool, it has been totally transformed...reinvented!
Special prize Exterior 2022: Apple The Grove, Los Angeles, CA, United States, Foster+Partners
image © Nigel Young
Apple at The Grove is an embodiment of Los Angeles’ energy and creative spirit. Located Mid-City, adjacent to Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, the new store is at the heart of the global entertainment industry. It forms an integral part of The Grove, the famous open-air shopping and entertainment complex that is one of the city’s most popular visitor destinations, ranking as one of the top shopping and entertainment centers in the country.
The design is rooted in its locality, while also addressing the rich history of motion pictures in the city. The new store replaces an existing structure with a generous, triple-height, rectilinear space. A mirrored ceiling, made from specialized stretched fabric, generates an uninterrupted reflective surface. The ceiling is dematerialized, giving the illusion of a much larger 60-foot-high volume that reflects and amplifies the airiness of the store. Five-foot-wide linear skylights allow natural light to flood in from above, with beams spanning the entire width of the store casting rhythmic shadows onto the walls of the open and airy space.
The exterior-facing façade is fully glazed with two 10 x 31.5-foot sliding doors that blur the boundary between the inside and outside, allowing the store to be naturally ventilated for most of the year. The landscape flows from The Grove through the interior, with sixteen Ficus trees making their way through the building onto the edge of West 3rd Street, establishing biophilic links and creating a lush, inviting atmosphere for people to enjoy the incredible Apple products.
Internally, the entire store is laid out on a single level that steps down to meet West 3rd Street. The generous internal volume is flanked by Castagna stone-clad walls, featuring some of the longest Apple Avenue displays in the world. The Forum – a dedicated space for Today at Apple – is located towards the far end of the store. There are two secondary entrances from the West 3rd Street end, one of which leads directly to the new, dedicated Apple Pickup area for online collections.
Apple at The Grove is a buoyant space that seeks to inspire creativity in people of all ages, embracing and embodying the progressive spirit of Los Angeles.
Foster + Partners
Shopping Malls
Prix Versailles 2022: La Samaritaine, Paris, France, SANAA / SRA Architectes / Lagneau Architectes
image © WeAreContents
Founded by Ernest and Marie-Louise Cognacq-Jaÿ in 1870, what started as a small boutique on rue de Pont-Neuf has become much more than just a department store: it has become the go-to destination in the heart of the capital. In 2021, it reopened to unveil the exceptionally revived iconic Art Nouveau building along with a new contemporary structure on rue de Rivoli.
Far from a covered space, Samaritaine is a Parisian promenade that extends in bathered building of natural light filtering through from several points: the iconic glass roof of the Art Nouveau building, the original breakthrough bay windows in the Eiffel structure as well as two new skylights designed by Sanaa’s agency.
Inside, the spaces echo the architectural principle, both rooted in history and turned towards the future. On the Pont-Neuf side a chic and refined aesthetic designed by Yabu Pushelberg and Hubert de Malherbe, welcome the biggest names in luxury surrounded by a terrazzo floor, wooden and mosaic floors, ironwork repainted in gray with Art Deco and Art Nouveau details.
On the Rivoli side, the 2010 Pritzker Prize Japanese Agency Sanaa reimplements an industrial-style modernity with a more urban feel through a completely renovated Art Nouveau building and a new structure whose undulating glass façade weaves a real dialogue between past and present in a subtle game of reflections between the Parisian buildings.
LVMH has entrusted DFS, the world leader in the sale of luxury goods to travelers, with Samaritaine’s design and operation. It now offers more than 20,000 square meters with over 600 iconic and avant-garde brands from the worlds of fashion, watchmaking and jewelry, as well as the largest beauty space in Europe.
As the new place to live, Samaritaine has become the new destination of the French art de vivre, showcasing the most authentic aspects of Paris.
SANAA / SRA Architectes / Lagneau Architectes
Special prize Interior 2022: The Hyundai Seoul, Seoul, South Korea, Burdifilek
image © Burdifilek
The Hyundai Seoul(Yeouido) branch, which opened in Feb 2021, is one of the best examples of presenting the value of 'Retail Therapy.' This new nature-friendly store is evaluated as the future of the shopping platform' by reducing the selling area and replacing it with gardens and waterfalls.
Burdifilek
Special prize Exterior 2022: Henderson Cifi Tiandi, Shanghai, China, Ateliers Jean Nouvel
image ©10 Studio
The former French concession has marked this district of Shanghai for a long time, and it is obviously an honor for a French architect to design an urban space there that fits into the urbanity, plane trees, narrow streets and landscapes inhabited. Between Ma Dang and Dan Shui streets, it was tempting to create a shortcut that would be an urban and commercial passage, an evocative sequence of atmospheres that had disappeared but were completely reinvented, original and modern, a narrow, high, covered and protected street... The architectures need to know where they live to create the desire for unpredictable and unique rides. Open, our project fits into the geometry of the neighborhood. The greige-coloured exterior suggests a surprise of light, color and plant landscape through the two entrances to Ma Dang and Dan Shui streets. A shopping street on two levels, sequenced by footbridges, small bridges, is immersed between two flowered walls made up of alignments of jars planted with different green and colored essences.
The complementarity between the shops facing each other, the office activities and the restaurants under the roofs, create a familiar and naturally lively street, creating a goal for pleasant walks and a pleasant new route between Ma Dang and Dan Shui streets. The play of shadows caused by the adjustable slats of the blinds, in front of the windows bordered by the large flowerpots, play on the mystery of the presences and activities thus protected while inventing a landscape of plant friezes in the colors of the seasons and the flowers. differentiated. The walls of the passage are painted in variations of brown, amber, orange and multiple reds. All these attentions I invented them to, on the side of Huai Hai, enrich Shanghai with this new unique open and covered street: “the street of 1000 red jars”.
Jean Nouvel
Hotels
Prix Versailles 2022: Six Senses Fort Barwara, Chauth Ka Barwara, India, Mitchell & Eades
image © Six Senses
Turning the Fort into the luxurious Six Senses Fort Barwara Spa and Resort Hotel has taken a decade with Melbourne bases designers Mitchell & Eades appointed Concept Interior Designers in 2016.
Panchatantra, the Indian collection of fables, are said to reveal the basic knowledge of wisdom which makes one's life "richer, happier, and fuller" because of the elegant style in which it packages the wisdom of the ages. This is how we approached our restoration of Fort Barwara. To truly depict the incredible beauty, joy and hospitality that is Rajasthan, we enhanced the foundations of the heritage buildings. We filled in the gaps and encouraged people to imagine the past rather than covering up or reinterpreting it which so many have done before us. We wanted people to stop, reflect and smile as they catch their breath when experiencing the scenery and heritage surroundings of Fort Barwara, in the same way we smiled at the moment we saw a resident monkey watching us from the top window inside the double treatment room prior to construction.
We worked very closely with Panika as our Heritage lead, and ASA, as local Architect on the project to ensure we honoured the architectural legacy not only of the Fort itself, but also the region. The site saw thousands of local tradesmen and women working tirelessly for years which brought an additional layer of tradition through their unique methodology.
Mitchell & Eades
Special prize Interior 2022: Six Senses Botanique, Campos do Jordão, Brazil, Candida Tabet Arquitetura
image © Six Senses
Six Senses Botanique is located at the confluence of three river valleys in the heart of the Mantiqueira Mountains. These are known as the “mountains that weep” due to the abundance of springs and rivers.
Built from indigenous materials such as jacaranda wood, natural stone, and chocolate slate, seven suites in the main building and 13 individual villas are scattered in the lush hills, creating a place in which to rekindle connections with nature and the world around.
Candida Tabet Arquitetura
Special prize Exterior 2022: DongFengYun Hotel Mi’Le – MGallery, Mile, China, Luo Xu / Cheng Chung Design
image © SensoryDesign-WangTing
DongFengYun Hotel Mi’Le – MGallery is located in Dongfengyun Art Town, Mile, Yunnan Province. The architecture, conceived by renowned artist Luo Xu based on the design concept “austerity, simplicity and authenticity”, reveals a round, stable and simple image. The building seems to carry the traces of time, and seems to be kneaded by a pair of big, rough hands. It quietly lies on the red soil, showing a magnificent posture. As approaching the interior design, CCD did not adopt “modernized” or “industrial” design expressions. Instead, the team drew inspiration from local cultural context, and leveraged simplistic languages to integrate the space into nature.
The entrance space is bowl-shaped, with an opening carved out on the top. It's infused with freely moving daylight and pleasing eco effects. The curved enclosure wall subtly reflects the scenes, appearing like rippled water surface and evoking infinite imagination.
The lobby design fully respects the architectural structures and local culture. Plain materials such as local burnt red bricks, cement and clay are utilized, to unify hues of the interior space and integrate it with the architecture into a whole.
The cement-finished backdrop walls, round columns and geometric front desks are as powerful, three-dimensional and steady as sculptures. Those distinctive structures are independent and also complement each other, together producing a natural, plain and integrated atmosphere.
By utilizing local red clay bricks and drawing on the form of grape trellis, the walls create infinite possibilities in diverse ways. Meanwhile, characteristic local pottery is used as adornments to strengthen the sense of history in the space.
The naming and design of all guestrooms pay tribute to local art such as painting, pottery, dyeing, composition as well as specialties and treasures, fully embodying the aesthetic concept "art dialogues with everything, inspiration portrays life".
Restaurants
Prix Versailles 2022: The NoMad restaurant, London, United Kingdom, EPR Architects
image © Simon Upton
NoMad London takes residence inside the historic, grade II-listed building famously known as The Bow Street Magistrates’ Court and Police Station. A collaboration with New York-based interior design studio Roman and Williams, the transformation of the storied 19th century building draws inspiration from its history and location in Covent Garden, as well as exploring the artistic and cultural connection between London and New York.
Set inside a lushly landscaped atrium with a soaring glass ceiling, the space is flooded with natural light providing energy and liveliness during the day. In the evening, the restaurant transforms to a more intimate setting, revealing its moody and sensual character.
EPR Architects / Roman and Williams
Special prize Interior 2022: Bogen, Bolzano, Italy, noa*
image © Alex Filz
An ancient barrel-vaulted workshop has been transformed into an inviting and rich in history dining place in the oldest trade streets in the heart of the Italian town of Bolzano.
The house has a fascinating past that goes back centuries: in the 19th century shoemakers, carpenters, carters, wood and fruit merchants worked here. Later in time the first restaurant on the street was established. With the redesign, the Mayr family, who has owned the house for over 100 years (now), wanted to preserve and promote Bolzano's mercantile history while entrusting the architects of noa* with the restoration and interior planning for a new destination. The strong bond with history was crucial in the definition of the project: both because the house is under monumental protection and because the design team wanted to emphasize the original architecture of the arches to the fullest. The bistro itself pays homage to these arches by choosing the name "Bogen", German for "arch". For the interior, the underlying idea was to emphasize the four arches, which on both sides rhythmically mark the almost 19-metre depth of the room. Furthermore, the design is structured around a pivotal element: a welcoming 7-metre-long counter placed under a ceiling of flower baskets. The shared space of the large counter contrasts with the intimacy of the small tables, sheltered by the arches and overlooking the alley. In addition, Roswitha, part of the family and the project’s main initiator, wanted to give the space a personal touch with her handcraft and artistic talents in the form of floral compositions, which convey a romantic, bohemian-style atmosphere.
Today, the Bogen bistro consists of a consistent design with a strong contemporary character within a centuries-old structure - a step into Bolzano's present and past at the same time.
Special prize Exterior 2022: Äng, Tvååker, Sweden, Norm Architects
image © Kristian Sahlberg
Sitting as a solitary diamond in the undulating fields of Ästad Vingård – one of Sweden’s largest vineyards – Restaurang ÄNG is a culinary experience out of the ordinary that engages all senses.
The partly underground Michelin-starred restaurant with a spectacular glasshouse entrance in the middle of the lush field is designed by Norm Architects and furnished by Japanese Karimoku to create a stimulating interplay between architecture, food, wine, interiors, and art that makes for a balanced and harmonious haute-cuisine experience.
The experience of ÄNG starts even before you step inside – walking through the lush meadow with crops and grasses on both sides of the winding pathway leading guests to the sparkling glasshouse that stands as a modern and refined interpretation of a greenhouse turned inside out.
Having the iron structure on the inside, it stands like a prism in the middle of the field; Utterly sharp and smooth, mirroring the surroundings.
Taking its name from the surrounding meadows, the new ÄNG explores both the surface and the deeper parts of the Swedish landscape as the souterrain view of the wetlands adds even more peace of mind.
As the staff starts to decant local sparkling wine and present astounding appetizers made from homegrown produce, the sun is slowly descending beyond the meadow, serving as a calm and ever-changing backdrop to the evening.
