Urban Tours by Rental Car selected to receive the 2010 IRIS PRIZE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver June 21, 2010 – Cohos Evamy intgregratedesign is pleased to announce the recipient of this year’s Iris Prize. This year’s award is being presented to Will Craig, a young designer in the Cohos Evamy Calgary Studio, for his outstanding submission entitled “Urban Tours by Rental Car: Reconciling Madrid’s left-over spaces.” Educated in Britain, Will holds a post-baccalaureate Diploma in Architecture with distinction from the University of Westminster and a Bachelor of Architecture with Honors from the University of Nottingham. Announced today, the execution of the submitted proposal is targeted for March 2011.
In his submission, Will proposes to undertake an investigatory tour of the city of Madrid. “Rather than simply paying homage to the city’s monuments and highlighted architecture in the historical centre, this project will focus on the marginalized and in-between spaces of the city,” states Craig. He goes on to describe that it is in this in-between that “slippage between sites and a mixture of uses occurs.”
Will’s process will involve renting a car and encircling the city using Madrid’s multitude of linked motorways. For example Madrid’s M-40 is part of an extensive network of beltways and outer beltways responsible for doubling the city’s urbanized area since the 1970’s.The intent of Will’s work is to examine the outskirts of Madrid as a site of continuous change and ambiguity – the outcome - a temporal analysis and re-coding of the city’s leftover spaces. Madrid will provide a test-bed for interpreting a new language of the suburban context. The point of the investigation will be to explore the possibility for a holistic urbanism; one conscious of the ongoing effects of planning practices and large scale interventions in the city.
Donna Clare, Chair of this year's selection committee, noted that the team was intrigued by Will's proposal to examine the suburbs, the oft forgotten outskirts of our urban environments. The growing suburban fabric, often disparaged by architects and planners as socially, financially and environmentally unsustainable, is an increasingly important challenge for this generation and the next. Will's focus on the marginalized and left-over spaces within our cities will be provocative and will challenge our understanding of the suburban context.
The Cohos Evamy IRIS Prize was established in 2005 to encourage and support design and technical excellence and to recognize the important role design plays in our communities. Intended to support research and creative exploration, the IRIS PRIZE provides the financial support and the opportunity for successful candidates to undertake a research project based on a field of study of interest to them and to the practice of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Engineering, Interior Design and Planning.
Established in 1960, Cohos Evamy integratedesignTM has a track record of quality, sustainability and design excellence through more than 50 years of practice. Working from studios in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver*, Cohos Evamy credits its strength to its 400 people who deliver excellence and an integrated approach to the provision of architectural, interior design, planning, structural, mechanical and electrical engineering services.
For more information visit www.cohos-evamy.com.
