"When we received the invitation to exhibit, we had just won an architectural competition for a new university in Peru," explained director Yvonne Farrell. "We acknowledged our influences from South America and on this basis we took the opportunity of celebrating the inspirational quality of the work of Mendes da Rocha."

The large papier mache models show details from da Rocha's Serra Dourada football stadium in Brazil, while smaller limestone models show details from the architect's Sao Pedro Church in São Paulo and his urban design project for Montevideo Bay in Uruguay. These are presented alongside others showing Grafton's proposals for the University of Lima and for a School of Economics in Toulouse, France.

The models are surrounded by images of the football stadium, as well as photography depicting landscapes from Machu Picchu and from the Irish island of Skellig Michael.

Grafton Architects were awarded the Silver Lion for most promising practice at the biennale.

See all our coverage of the Venice Architecture Biennale »

Photography is by Alice Clancy.

Here's a short description from the exhibition:

Architecture as New Geography

Irish
 practice 
Grafton
 Architects 
used
 the
 invitation
 of 
the 
biennale
 to
 open 
up
 a 
new 
conversation
 with an 
architect 
whose
 work 
they
 had
 long
 admired:
 Pritzker
 Prize
 winner
 Paulo
 Mendes
 da
 Rocha. 
Grafton
 Architects 
recently
 won
 a 
competition 
fo
r a 
university
 in
 Lima,
 Peru,
 and looked
 to 
Mendes 
da 
Rocha’s 
work
 for 
cues 
on
 how
 to
 build 
for
 the
 particular
 climatic
conditions
 of
 this
 place.

After
 a
 dialogue
 with 
the
 Brazilian, 
Grafton
 made
 models
 of
 selected
 works
 focusing
 on 
his
 Serra
 Dourada 
Stadium
 project: 
an 
homage 
that
 becomes 
a 
piece 
of 
design
 research
 for 
the
 idea
 of
 the
 university
 as 
an
 arena
 of
learning,
 working
 with
 Mendes
 da 
Rocha’s
 idea 
of
 architecture 
as 
new 
geography.

This
 exhibition
 demonstrates 
how
openness 
to
 influence
 is 
a 
starting
 point, 
and
 a 
prerequisite
 for
 good
 architecture. 
In 
this
 sense,
this
 room exemplifies 
the
theme 
of
 this 
year’s
 biennale.

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by Grafton Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

The winning project, a university faculty building in Milan, beat Opera House Oslo by Norwegian architects Snøhetta (below) to the prize and Finch explains why the Irish architects' building eventually won the super-jury over. See our stories about Universita Luigi Bocconi by Grafton Architects and Opera House Oslo by Snøhetta.

The first World Architecture Festival was held in Barcelona in 2008 and this year's event in Singapore will be the festival's fifth year.

Dezeen is media partner for World Architecture Festival 2012 and readers can save 25% on the early rate cost of entering the WAF awards. Simply enter MPVOUCH25 in the VIP code box when registering to enter online (see voucher above for more details).

Here's some info about WAF:

World Architecture Festival is the world’s largest live architecture festival and awards programme.

Now in its fifth year, the World Architecture Festival has attracted over 8000 attendees to date. 2012 is a landmark year for the Festival, heralding our relocation to the Asian gateway and design hub, Singapore. WAF’s move brings with it unparalleled opportunities for east to meet west and for you to obtain inspiration, develop your global network and plan new exciting projects.

In 2011 over 400 architects from across the globe were shortlisted and battled for a WAF award. The festival saw over 30 international practices become winners of a revered WAF yellow W trophy.

To be at the centre of all WAF has to offer, and that includes global PR, doors opening, new connections and a celebration of your fervour for the power of life changing architecture, you need to enter the projects that you want to shout to the world about. You have less than six weeks to enter, so start yours today.

The World Architecture Festival Awards offers you multiple opportunities to showcase your best work and most exciting ideas to the world, including the most influential names in the design and development community. All you have to do is decide which projects will be representing your practice at the world’s largest, live architectural awards programme and festival.

There are 30 categories to choose from and projects can be completed buildings, future projects, landscape projects, masterplans or interiors. You can enter a project into more than one category (which will of course increase your chances of walking away with that rather handsome WAF award).

With 35 awards and prizes covering 100+ different building types, World Architecture Festival is your opportunity to promote your latest completed building, interior, landscape or masterplan globally.

How to enter the WAF Awards:

Entering the World Architecture Festival awards is easy. All entries must be submitted through our website www.worldarchitecturefestival.com

Just follow these simple steps:

»Open your WAF account or if you have entered WAF previously just log onto your existing account - log in here.
»Choose the section and category that you want to enter - remember you can enter a project into more than one category.
»Tell us what project you are entering
»Pay for your entry
»Create your online entry by adding images for the project, your details, a description and any professional credits - all entries must be completed by 30th June 2012.

The post World Architecture Festival 2012: Universita
Luigi Bocconi by Grafton Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

A university faculty building in Milan by Irish practice Grafton Architects has been named World Building of the Year at the inaugural World Architecture Festival, held in Barcelona last week.

Luigi Bocconi University was praised as a "magical subterranean realm" by judges including Robert Stern, Richard Burdett and Cecil Balmond.

Here's a statement from the World Architecture Festival, followed by some text about the building from Grafton Architects:

--

Luigi Bocconi University, Milan, named World Building of the Year

Judges praise the “magical subterranean realm” created by Irish practice Grafton Architects

The new faculty building at Luigi Bocconi University, Milan, designed by Irish practice Grafton Architects, has become the first World Building of the Year at the inaugural World Architecture Festival Awards (WAF Awards) 2008, at the Centre Convencions International in Barcelona.

The judges praised the architects who, though not from Milan, succeeded in distilling the essence of the city into a confident, contemporary form.

The building includes offices for 1,000 professors, 5 conference halls, lecture theatres, courtyards and concourses, all accessible to the public, with offices for teaching staff suspended above.

The WAF Awards are biggest architectural awards programme in the world, designed to celebrate the work, concerns and aspirations of the international architectural community.

Luigi Bocconi was selected by a super-jury chaired by Robert Stern, Dean of Yale School of Architecture, which included Cecil Balmond, Deputy Chairman of Ove Arup & Partners, Richard Burdett, Centennial Professor in Architecture and Urbanism at the London School of Economics, and Suha Ozkan of the XXI Architecture Centre, Ankara.

They selected the project from a total of 17 finalists, whittled down from a shortlist of 224 projects that were presented during World Architecture Festival between the 22nd and 24th October.

Speaking at the WAF Awards Paul Finch, WAF programme director and editor of Architectural Review, said: “Our congratulations go to Grafton Architects. The super-jury had an interesting debate, which could have continued for several days. The winning building has a heavy relationship with the landscape of Milan and has the capacity to make a profound difference to the lives of its users. Grafton Architects have opened up the past of the city with a 21st century attitude.”

Judge Cecil Balmond, Arup, admired “the 3D design which took architecture, construction and design, using it to create an urban weave. Its effortless structural solution suspends offices over a subterranean concourse.”

Directors of Grafton Architects, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara commented: “We are delighted to have won this accolade for what is the biggest project we have ever undertaken. We were trying to make the University a miniature city where public realm connects with the rest of the city and the campus provides a window to Milan. Being in the city for 6 years we have grown to love this project, which has changed our lives. A wonderful client, place and ambition all contribute to good architecture, and we had all three.”

World Architecture Festival, organised by Emap is one of the most significant dates in the global architectural calendar. It is the biggest architectural event in the world, which looks beyond borders to celebrate the finest work from the world’s greatest architects.

--

Universita Luigi Bocconi, Milan, Italy
A Piece of City

We saw this brief as an opportunity for the Luigi Bocconi University to make a space at the scale of the city. To this end we have built at the scale of the site,80m x160m. Inside, our building is thought of as a large market hall or place of exchange. The Building’s hall acts as a filter between the city and the university.

A Window to Milan

The northern edge of the site fronts onto the artery of Viale Bligny, with the clatter of trams, the rush of busses, general traffic, people passing. It addresses the throbbing urban life of Milan, weaves into the mesh of the city. This frontage becomes the architectural opportunity to have a ‘window’ to Milan, a memorable image to confirm the important cultural contribution that the Bocconi University plays in the life of this city. For this reason, the public space of the aula magna occupies this frontage, asserting a symbolic presence and a register of the prestigious status of the University.

Social Lebensraum

The building is set back from the Viale Bligny & Via Roentgen edges to make a public space 18m x 90m inspired by the space forward of Hospital Maggiore.This new deep ‘finger’ of space reaches out to the city and beckons the visitor into the heart of the interior. This public space continues into the building, bringing with it it’s stone surface, the floor of the city.

Moving Skyward

In order to make this grand place of exchange we thought about the research offices as beams of space, suspended to form a grand canopy which filters light to all levels. The offices form an inhabited roofscape. This floating canopy allows the space of the city to overlap with the life of the university. Allows internal and external public spaces to merge.

The beehive world of the research is physically separate but always visually connected to the life of the lower levels

Undercroft

The underground accommodation is treated as an erupting landscape which offers support to the inhabited light filters above. Spatially this underground world is solid, dense and carved. We tried to establish a continuity between the ‘landscape’ of the city and the ‘made landscape’ of this undercroft.

Aula

The external wall to the sunken Aula Magna reaches the full height of the building with the upper level offices inhabiting it’s roofscape /attic. The full bulk and scale of this great room ‘the embedded boulder’ sits directly on the street edge and is the anchor for the totality of the building.

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