A Malaysian Developer of the Year for the world

LONDON: The Emirates Glass Leading European Architecture Forum (LEAF) Awards, which recognises innovative architectural design projects from around the world, recently announced this year’s winners at a gala dinner on Oct 16 at the Landmark Hotel in London. Winners in all categories bore interesting and equally creative developments and competition was noticeably stiff.

Battersea Power Station, owned by notable Malaysian investors S P Setia Bhd, Sime Darby Bhd, and the Employees Provident Fund bagged the Developer of the Year award.

The overall winner was the unassuming Ribbon Chapel, a wedding chapel in Japan by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP Co Ltd, located on a resort overlooking Japan’s inland sea.

Organised annually by the Leading European Architecture Forum since 2001, the awards this year received around 200 entries of recently completed or almost-completed building design projects after submissions were called for in January.

The judging panel of industry experts included Alan Crawford (Founder, Crawford Partnership Architects); Valerie Evans (Director, Architecture, Atkins Global); Firas Hnoosh (Director, BDP); Božana Komljenović (Associate, Zaha Hadid Architects); Lukasz Platkowski (Tall Buildings Practice Area Leader, Principal, Gensler); and Peter Shaw (Global Board Director, Aedas).

For each of the 13 award categories, four to six projects were eventually shortlisted on July 27. The categories included Developer of the Year, Residential Building of the Year, Commercial Building of the Year, Best Sustainable Development of the Year, Urban Design of the Year and Overall Winner. Here are some of the major award winners.

1. Ribbon Chapel

The Overall Winner award went to Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP Co Ltd’s Ribbon Chapel, completed in December 2013. Measuring 861 sq ft, the wedding chapel is located on the grounds of a resort hotel overlooking Japan’s inland sea. The chapel is configured as a double spiral formed by two stairways that start from different locations which then spiral upwards to become one – symbolic of marriage.

A 135-metre handrail is filled with cascading plants, while the glass windows between spirals provide natural lighting to conserve electricity consumption. The part of the chapel that receives the harshest solar radiation is mitigated with glass windows set back from the exterior wall to form an eave and reduce the thermal load, while established apertures are set at the top and ground levels to promote natural ventilation through gravity difference.

2. Battersea Power Station

Battersea Power Station in London owned by a consortium comprising S P Setia Bhd, Sime Darby Bhd, and Malaysia’s Employees Provident Fund, and developed by Battersea Power Station Development Company, bagged the Developer of the Year award. Construction of phase one started at the end of 2012. The redevelopment of the 42-acre power station site is expected to be completed in seven phases by 2025, transforming it into a mixed-use development. This will enable residents to live comfortably within their surroundings through the construction of residences, office towers and retail outlets.

The development also aims to restore the power station as well as create a new riverside park to the north of the power station, and a new high street to link the future entrance to Battersea Power Station tube station. The restoration works include reconstruction of the power station’s chimneys, refurbishment of cranes and the jetty. The first phase is due for completion in 2016/2017.

3. Vertical Itaim

Vertical Itaim, or V_Itaim, by Studio MK27, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, won Residential Building of the Year (Multiple Occupancy). It comprises 10 apartments distributed over 13 floors with a focus on simplicity and generous space.

With a facade of exposed reinforced concrete, a nod to brutalist-type buildings local to Sao Paulo, and perforated square-patterned wooden panels, it shades the inner environment to maintain a pleasant temperature. The relation between the building and the outside is formed through large panes of glass in the living room and a terrace that is accessible through a sliding wooden panel.

4. Euravenir Tower

Winner of Commercial Building of the Year. Located in Lille, France, Euravenir Tower was designed by LAN Architecture and opened in 2014 after four years of construction. It comprises office units measuring 25,000 sq ft and combines private and public as well as vertical and horizontal spaces. The 100,000 sq ft base provides porosity and protection from the weather and also functions as an outdoor platform to encourage social interaction.

Each of the levels is organised around a central core that holds all the spaces and vertical circulations, while the floor areas allow for a flexible layout to encourage equal division. The facades were designed to become a series of windows providing a panoramic view of the city. The tower is certified according to French sustainable construction standards.

A lattice motif formed by the bands and trumeaus cuts out the facades, characterised by different designs in response to their orientation, usage and thermal requirements. Copper is used as a fixed siding along the opaque, semi-glassed stretches of the facade, and in the form of perforated panels. This helps to precisely regulate the amount of light penetrating the building.

5. Kolding Campus

at the University of Southern Denmark by Henning Larsen Architects took the Best Sustainable Development award. It was finished in 2014 after two years of construction. Measuring 147,465 sq ft, the need for lighting, heating, cooling and ventilation within the building are all minimised through its shape and facade.

The highly insulated facade constitutes movable, triangular elements that regulate light inflow. A combined heating and cooling pump installation which uses groundwater to regulate the building’s internal temperature is fully integrated into the design and interacts with other elements within and surrounding the building, such as using the outside air to cool down the atrium at night.

In addition to this, the university utilises solar collectors and cells, low-energy mechanical ventilation, computer equipment with low energy consumption, and other energy-efficient initiatives, to secure the award as a significantly sustainable development.

6. Wanarn Clinic

Also awarded the Best Sustainable Development was Wanarn Clinic in the Gibson Desert, Australia. Designed in 2012 and completed in 2015, the clinic hosts the Ngaanyatjarra Health Service, a community organisation with an indigenous board, which serves a community of 150 people as well as an aged care facility.

The building is constructed of lightweight steel frame colourbond zancalume cladding, with the art screens laser-cut from galvanised steel and walls made from locally collected stone. The two smallest blocks were prefabricated in Alice Springs, 1,000km away.

7. Vinge Train Station

Architecture firms Henning Larsen Architects and Tredje Natur teamed up to win Urban Design of the Year for their Vinge Train Station project in Copenhagen, Denmark. The train station constitutes a non-directional elliptical shape to unify its surroundings in the centre of the city and is expected to be completed by 2017.

The station serves as the heart of the development and is placed on the same level as the rails to connect both levels, creating a space where the train platforms and shops are located. Its circular design enables its organic adaptation to the surrounding city, constructed from in-situ concrete that reflects the sun’s rays. Rain water will be collected in gutters and tanks integrated into the surface and edges of the building, ensuring a dry and anti-slip surface.

Leading European Architecture Forum

The LEAF Awards is an annual awards ceremony founded in 2001 and now brings together leading architects, designers, developers and suppliers operating around the world.

It recognises innovative architectural design projects and celebrates excellence in building design on an international basis. Every year, each entry project is judged within its specific category by a panel of industry experts from around the world.

Typically the LEAF Awards receives over 200 entries from a variety of architectural practices with recently completed or almost completed building design projects.

It gives architects and designers big and small the opportunity to have their projects judged on a level playing field and recognised by the industry’s leading design elite, peers and media.

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This story first appeared in The Edge Property pullout on Nov 20, 2015, which comes with The Edge Financial Daily every Friday. Download The Edge Property here for free.