Architectural drawing celebrated with an annual prize at Sir John Soane’s Museum
The winner of the second annual Architecture Drawing Prize has been annouced as Li Han, one of the founding partners of Drawing Architecture Studio in Beijing. His work was chosen by the judges for telling ‘hundreds of stories’ through a single piece of artwork and drawing attention to how architects should consider the lifetime of a building across a period of time: ‘It's a modern day Archigram drawing but also a step into the future,’ says Narinder Sagoo, one of the judges and senior partner at Foster + Partners.
Han's drawing, titled ‘The Samsara of Building No. 42 on Dirty Street’, pictures a ‘chronological visual narrative’ of the development of a building in Beijing over a period of nearly 10 years, from a residential building into a commercial venue for businesses, then back again into a residential building. The drawing takes on the role of a document that explores the relationship between social and political urban development.
Li Han, The Samsara of Building No.42 on Dirty Street, 2017
The prize, curated by the World Architecture Festival, Sir John Soane’s Museum and Make Architects, looks to embrace digital drawing tools used within architecture while also celebrating the enduring use of hand drawing to the practice. The three prize sections – ‘hand-drawing’, ‘hybrid’, and ‘digital still image’ – express this, separating the types of drawing to recognise the unique skills required for each.
While Han won the digital category, and also was the overall winner, the other two category winners were Lukas Göbl of Austrian practice göbl architektur in the ‘hybrid’ category and Carlijn Kingma of Studio Carlijn Kingma in the ‘hand-drawn’ category.
Lukas Göbl, City of Beautiful Bodies, 2016
Farshid Moussavi, founder of Farshid Moussavi Architecture and a judge for the prize commended Göbl’s drawing for its ‘power of intuition’ and as an example of hand drawings as a ‘successful design and thinking tool’. His ongoing series examines the role of utopia in today's society, seeing utopia as a process, more than a destination. While Ken Shuttleworth, founder of Make Architects and judge, praised the detail, shading and depth of Kingma’s drawing that recasts the story of The Tower of Babel in the context of modern capitalism.
Other highlights included the commended drawings ‘American Dream or American Nightmare’ by Yue Ma of Cornell University and ‘Embassy Nation’ by Sarmad Suhail of Bartlett School of Architecture from across the categories.
INFORMATION
The Architecture Drawing Prize is on view until 18 November 2018. For more information, see the Sir John Soane’s Museum website
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Harriet Thorpe is a writer, journalist and editor covering architecture, design and culture, with particular interest in sustainability, 20th-century architecture and community. After studying History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Journalism at City University in London, she developed her interest in architecture working at Wallpaper* magazine and today contributes to Wallpaper*, The World of Interiors and Icon magazine, amongst other titles. She is author of The Sustainable City (2022, Hoxton Mini Press), a book about sustainable architecture in London, and the Modern Cambridge Map (2023, Blue Crow Media), a map of 20th-century architecture in Cambridge, the city where she grew up.
-
Bentley collaborates with fashion designer Supriya Lele to create ‘Nīla Blue’
This one-off Bentley Bentayga S showcases a new paint and interior specification created with Indian-British designer Supriya Lele
By Shawn Adams Published
-
Wallpaper* checks in at Yoruya, a Japanese inn where less is always more
Yoruya, which transforms a 110-year-old former kimono merchant shopfront and residence in Kurashiki, is an exercise in graceful restraint and craft
By Joanna Kawecki Published
-
Christmas gift ideas for design lovers
Wallpaper* global design director Hugo Macdonald compiles his festive wish list – from Poltrona Frau's luxurious dog leads to Carl Aubock's wicker magazine wall rack
By Hugo Macdonald Published
-
Mariam Issoufou Kamara to design Bët-bi museum in Senegal
Mariam Issoufou Kamara, founder of Atelier Masōmī in Niger, has been selected by a jury to lead the design of the new Bët-bi museum in the Senegambia region of West Africa
By Hannah Silver Last updated
-
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego unveils a bigger and brighter new space
Selldorf Architects has welcomed the elements in to the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego’s new light-filled design
By Hannah Silver Last updated
-
Tehran’s Argo Factory complex reinvents brewery architecture for the arts
The Argo Factory Contemporary Art Museum & Cultural Centre by Ahmadreza Schricker Architecture North (ASA North), housed in a redesigned brewery, becomes Tehran's first new arts hub in decades
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated
-
Dubai welcomes the Museum of the Future
Killa Design and the Dubai Future Foundation launch the Museum of the Future in Dubai, which opens its doors to the public today (22 February 2022)
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated
-
Foster + Partners’ Narbo Via enriches cultural landscape in south of France
Narbo Via, a new museum by Foster + Partners, opens in Narbonne, France
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated
-
The Design Museum and Snap bring extreme climate change to London
The Design Museum and Snap’s new filter imagines an alternative reality
By Hannah Silver Last updated
-
SANAA to resurrect Hexagon pavilion for Moscow’s Garage Museum extension
Japanese firm SANAA will overhaul the Hexagon pavilion, a 1920s Ivan Zholtovsky-designed structure in Gorky Park, for a Garage Museum extension
By Jessica Klingelfuss Last updated
-
Herzog & de Meuron returns to Duisburg for MKM Museum Küppersmühle extension
Tour the new extension at the MKM Museum Küppersmühle in Duisburg, Germany, a cultural hub courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated