2016 Wheelwright Prize awarded to MAIO's Anna Puigjaner for “Kitchenless City” proposal.
The coveted 2016 Wheelwright Prize went to Anna Puigjaner, cofounder of Barcelona-based MAIO Studio, as announced today by the Harvard Graduate School of Design. First established by the school in 1935, the prestigious $100,000 travel architectural research grant is awarded to one lucky early-career architect. Originally intended for Harvard GSD alumni, the prize became an open international competition in 2013 that gives competitive early-career architects anywhere on the globe a chance to apply. Some iconic recipients include Paul Rudolph, Eliot Noyes, William Wurster, and I. M. Pei.

Puigjaner’s winning proposal, Kitchenless City: Architectural Systems for Social Welfare, takes as its starting point a historic housing type, the housing blocks with collective kitchens, as well as other shared amenities such as dining rooms, lounges, and service areas. Puigjaner proposes to study exemplars of collective housing in Russia, Brazil, Sweden, China, Korea, and India, which reflect a variety of approaches to organizing and distributing domestic spaces. Noting that this housing type and notion of collective life were “deeply understood as a tool for social transformation”, she sees its relevance to today’s housing dilemmas and possible lessons for “renewed domestic proposals for the present.”
 
"Anna Puigjaner believes that architects should do more than simply design buildings and the spaces that surround them, but they should be concerned about the way people actually use those spaces. Her motto ‘Architecture goes beyond physicality’ means that buildings should help people to make their lives more efficient." Rafael Moneo, 2016 Wheelwright Prize Juror.

The 2016 Wheelwright Prize jury praised Puigjaner for the relevance of her topic today, as rapidly urbanizing cities struggle to provide adequate affordable housing for their growing populations. The jury emphasized the importance of awarding a research project that could produce new forms of architectural knowledge, and noted in particular the pertinence of Puigjaner’s research to new housing development models as well as the rise of alternative sharing and resource-pooling economies.

Her research itinerary begins with historical examples, such as the Kommunalkas, which began appearing in the Soviet Union after the revolution in 1917; and the projects spearheaded by Carmen Portinho. And she will continue her research by visiting contemporary examples of alternative collective domestic architecture, such as the Sargfabrik complex in Vienna (BKK-2 Architectur, 1996). The $100,000 prize will fund Puigjaner’s travel-based research over the next two years. As all the Wheelwright Prize winners, she will be invited to present her findings at Harvard GSD.

This year, the Wheelwright Prize jury selected four finalists from among nearly 200 submissions.  For the second year, finalists were invited to Harvard GSD to present their work and research proposals. The 2016 finalists were the Chilean architect Samuel Bravo, the italian architects Matilde Cassani and Pier Paolo Tamburelli and the final winner Anna Puigjaner.
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MAIO brings together creators to generate ideas and architectural solutions in order to re-imagine objects and sites.

MAIO was founded in 2005. It is currently led by Maria Charneco, Alfredo Lérida, Guillermo López and Anna Puigjaner, architects based in Barcelona, that combine professional activities with academic and research ones.

The works done by MAIO have been published in magazines such as ONdiseño and DETAIL among others. MAIO has been awarded several times, among which stands out: LampLighting Solutions Award 2009, FAD Award finalist in 2007 and 2008, Girona College of Architects Award in 2007, New Working Fields Award finalist in 2009 of the National College of Architects of Spain CSCAE, and finalist of the Arquia/Proxima Award in 2010 of the Architect’s Bank Foundation ARQUIA.

People and others that have collaborated in MAIO projects:

Olga Felip, Josep Camps, Maria Charneco, Alfredo Lérida, Guillermo López, Anna Puigjaner, GMK, Saint-Gobain, Schott, Mecrimar, Construmat-Fira de Barcelona, Ajuntament de Barcelona, Toldos Maillol, Brigadas Municipales del Ayuntamiento de Girona, Aceroid, Lamp Lighting, Rètols Gispert, Metàl·lics Cabratosa, Vallès School of Architecture ETSAV.

 

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