1st price: Al traverso

Vanni Renzini, 24 years old

Italian, Graduated from the University, Florence.

and Silvia Roseto, 25 years old

Italian, Graduated from the University, Florence.

2nd price: Un héritage industriel au profit de logements sociaux

Brieuc de Norre, 24 years old

Belgian, Student from the Faculté d’architecture La Cambre Horta de l’Université libre, Bruxelles.

and Phan Dang Khoa, 26 years old

Vietnamese, Student from ENSA Paris-Malaquais, Paris.

3d price ex aequo: Laneway Village

Viet Thai Dang, 26 years old

Vietnamese, Graduated from the ENSA Paris la Villette, Paris.

3d price ex aequo: Le toit du quartier

Théo Bienvenu, 26 years old

French, Graduated from the ENSA Nantes.

and Claire Romsée, 25 years old

French, Graduated from the ENSA Nantes.

10 honourable mentions

A New Heart

Alberto Roncelli & Nicole Vettore, Graduated from the Politechno di Milano.

UNE VIE SOUS LE TOIT

Thai Hong Lim & Khac Kien Nguyen, Student from the ENSA Paris Belleville.

SETTLEMENTS UNDER THE ROOF

David Nielsen, Graduated from the Det Kongelige Akademi - Arkitektur, Design, Konservering.

A ROOF OVER EVERYBODY’S HEAD

Anna Myts, Student from Czech Technical University, Prague.

 PORTIQUES DANS LES PRES

Marine Hazan & Juliette Martine, Graduated from ENSA Paris La Villette.

SHELTER-IN

Alessia Maurri & Camilla Marchionni, Students from University, Forence.

STATION TO STATION

Alexander N.C Christensen, Graduated from The Royal Academi - school of architecture, Denmark.

220.757 KM

KAY JANSEN, Student from FH Kaernten, Austria.

SIX + MORE

Benjamin Koslitsch & Samuel Grasser, Students from Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Austria.

UN HANGAR COLLECTIF A PISE

Juliette Douillet & Nicolas, Students from Ecole d’Architecture de la ville et des territoires, Paris.

EDITORIAL: LAUNCH OF THE PRIX W 2023

Dear students and young architects,

For the past 16 years, the Wilmotte Foundation has been promoting the meeting of heritage and contemporary creation through the organization of the W Prize.

For its tenth edition, we propose a challenge as stimulating as it is essential: A ROOF OVER EVERY BODY’S HEAD !

Rooftops shape the cities' and countryside's landscape, they draw the horizon. A roof is a protection, it is a shelter to rebuild oneself. It is a promise of a renewed family and social life.

Given the current crisis of poor housing, we invite you to imagine original solutions to design habitable modules that would be inserted under these existing and unused roofs (roofs of agricultural sheds, industrial wastelands, railway or military heritage but also former medium-sized commercial surfaces ...). You will be able to rethink these sheltered spaces and their immediate environment by developing a typology of quality housing, dignified and thought with common sense which will allow to palliate the crisis of the bad housing.

We are counting on you to innovate while respecting the constraints and stimulate your creativity to propose a project that is up to the challenge.

We are looking forward to discovering your proposals and to be able to answer this almost vital problem: how to revitalize dormant sites, and develop in the long term a new way of living in order to give back a dignified place to live to the people who need it the most?

Now it's your turn!

The lack of housing is a growing crisis that is becoming universal. Homelessness is a major and additional handicap for people in difficulty. It is imperative to devise new types of accommodation to respond to the emergency situations but also to the never-ending waiting times for access to housing for many of our fellow citizens. Simple ideas which, once implemented with all the necessary pragmatism, could prove to be solutions to reduce this lack of housing and restore dignity to those, too many, who are still homeless.

Roofs shape the landscape of cities and countryside, they shape the horizon. A roof is a protection, it is a shelter to rebuild. It is a promise of a renewed family and social life.

Transition zones, commercial zones, activity zones, interfaces between urban and rural areas, city entrances have a high potential for development. On the outskirts of our cities, there are agricultural sheds, industrial wastelands but also obsolete railway infrastructures, unused military heritage and logistics sheds in commercial areas... These are millions of square meters of unused space that could change the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

These unused spaces are the perfect stage for experimenting a new way of occupying urban edges, and expressing architecture. This allows program to revitalize dormant sites, to requalify city entrances and to develop a new way of living in the long run.

It will not be a matter of destroying to rebuild, but of using the existing framework and roofs of these empty buildings. Participants in the Prix W 2023 are invited to imagine, through architectural grafting, original solutions to reinvent housing and its immediate environment by developing a whole typology of quality housing, which will make it possible to soften this social crisis.

PROGRAM

For this new edition of the Prix W, you are invited to choose a roof typology either among those we propose or a similar typology you may know. Once the typology has been chosen, it will be a question of sliding under the framework and the existing roofs in order to imagine original solutions to invent a contemporary habitat and to revisit its immediate environment. You will thus develop a whole system of quality housing and a program allowing the creation of a neighborhood life, under and around the roof.

The 3 typologies proposed as examples are intentionally simplified so that you have the opportunity to focus on the idea and the proposal of your project that will come in it, rather than on the details and measurements of the existing roof. The same will be true if you choose another site.

BUILDING RECYCLING

The suggested place typologies have in common that they are sheltered, protected spaces with waterproofed ground. The objective is to create decent housing, achievable at a reasonable cost, in a requalified environment by sliding living volumes under the roofs. We expect a simple, economical, frugal, ecological and feasible reflection building systems. The building must be flexible in order to be able to adapt itself to uses evolving over the life of the building. In the short and medium term, this allows a sum of program to revitalize dormant sites, and in the long term to develop a new way of living.

A 'RESPONSIBLE' AND INNOVATIVE ARCHETYPE

You must think about the quick integration of program that meet an urgent need. The value of your proposal lies in the immediate effect this space can have on the population. The architecture you will propose should be modular, adaptable, responsible and inclusive. It should use local and bio-based materials.

WHICH ROOF?

In order to enable a viable system, if you choose a different roof than the ones we propose, the following rules must be respected:

• It is imperative that the roof chosen is located on the urban edge, i.e. at the entrance or exit of a town.

• It must belong to one of the three categories proposed: agricultural shed, railway wasteland, medium-sized logistics shed in a commercial or industrial zone.

• In order to allow sufficient natural light to enter the building, it is important to choose a roof that is not oversized.

• The chosen roof should have a paved floor in order to provide a sound and waterproofed base for the housing. These housing units will be composed by sliding habitable volumes under the roof.

• The roof may not be pierced or moved, the aim is to use the framework as a whole, in its raw state.           

A HUMAN SCALE

• The proposed housing archetype should be qualitative, modular, and achievable at reasonable cost and in a relatively short period of time.

• It will be necessary to plan housing surfaces ranging from one-bedroom to two-bedrooms flat.   

• The notion of reversibility of the new building (without foundations) is fundamental

• The notion of a mixed program is important (hybrid building) to design a future living space often far from an urban center: imagine new program, even new uses

THE USERS : Who is this housing project for?

The homeless, people on low incomes, active young people, students, outsiders (temporary workers, artists, freelancers, self-employed people, etc.)

Key Dates

Launch of the tenth edition of the W Prize: December 31, 2022.

Deadline to submit questions: March 31, 2023.

Deadline to register online: April 2, 2023 at midnight.

Submission of your project: from April 3* to April 11, 2023 at noon online.

Selection of projects by the jury: April 14, 2023.

Inauguration of the exhibition in Venice: May 18, 2023

*You can send your projects on prixw@wilmotte.fr from April 3, 2023.

In the event of a conflict between either versions, the French version shall take precedence.

II – COMPETITION RULES

_ Article 1: Purpose

Through the organization of the Prix W 2023 award, the Foundation emphasizes the level of importance of the architectural and urban grafting for the preservation of the European heritage and its evolution in our contemporary world. In addition, the Foundation wishes to offer the opportunity for future architects to test and fine-tune their creative potential.

_ Article 2: Entry guidelines

The competition is open to architecture students and young architects from European Union and Switzerland schools but also Serbia, Montenegro, Ukraine and Georgia… who graduated after 1 January 2020. They will have to prove their current or past registration in a school. Participation in the competition may be individual or as a team of a maximum of two people, each member of the team having to meet the criteria mentioned above.

A candidate may only participate once in the competition and with one project. Multiple entries will automatically result in individual and collective disqualification if the entry is made as part of a team.

Employees of Wilmotte & Associés, current or former, may not participate directly or indirectly in the competition. Their participation will automatically lead to individual and collective disqualification, if they participate as part of a team.

Participation is free.

_ Article 3: Organization of the competition

The languages of the competition are French and English. All the documents submitted must be made in either one of these two languages.

Registration

Registration have to be online on www.prixw.com.

Documents are available for download after registration.

Questions – Answers

Questions can be asked on the website www.prixw.com until March 31, 2023.

Answers will be displayed to everybody on: www.prixw.com/faq20

Handing in of the projects

The deadline for handing in the projects is set for Tuesday, Avril, the 11, 2023 at noon.

Applicants must meet the criteria in accordance with the specification of the tender hereunder (or click here to read the specifications online).

Applicants who not meet those criteria will be disqualified.

In the case of a complaint, this one will have to be sent within 14 days after the publication.

Results

The jury will convene a few days later, to determine and announce the winners of the competition. An award ceremony will be held on May the 18, 2023. The award-winning projects will be exhibited and presented to the press. Award winners of the first three prizes are required to attend this ceremony, and may, if not, lose their prize. The Foundation will, in these circumstances, cover travelling costs.

_ Article 4: Selection of prize-winners

The Jury

The international jury is composed of architects, journalists, urban planners and other qualified figures. The president of the jury will be elected by its co-jurors.

Jury organization

The jury selects the projects. The names of the Winners will be released after final jury deliberation in early June 2023 on the Instagram account @prixw.

The selected projects will be exhibited to the public during the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023 and will be published by the Foundation.

Selection Criteria

The jury will award the prizes based on the following criteria:

• Site analysis

• Originality and creativity of the concept

• Quality of urban and architectural graft

• Quality of the render

• Clarity of the proposition

This list is not exhaustive list and is given as an indication. The order and weighting criteria are left to the discretion of the jury.

The jury may nominate projects or award special distinctions if it deems necessary. It may also decide not to award all the prizes if the quality or the number of submitted projects proves to be insufficient.

_ Article 5: PRIZES

The prizes will be attributed as follows:

1st Prize: The first prize-winner will receive a 8,000 Euros grant.

2nd Prize: The second prize winner will receive a 6,000 Euros grant.

3rd Prize: The third prize-winner will receive a 3,000 Euros grant.

The three winners and the projects mentioned will be exhibited in Venice at the Wilmotte Foundation Gallery during the 2023 International Architecture Biennale.

All these projects will also be included in a publication dedicated to the Prix W.

Participants will not be entitled to any other compensation.

_ Article 6: Ownership and use of projects and information provided by the candidates

Documents and projects submitted will not be returned to the candidates.

The organisers reserve the right of non-commercial usage of the projects and identity of the participants, for exhibition, publication and communication purposes for which they are to be the sole judges, without limitation in time. The organisers may also make copies (meaning textual, graphic or photographic representations) of submitted documents for the same purposes.

The participants remain owners of their projects and of their rights of exploitation.

In application of the French «database and privacy» law (law 78-17 of January 6th 1978 regarding data processing and privacy), the participants are hereby informed that the personal information collected for the present competition is necessary for the organisation of the competition. The information is for the sole usage of the Wilmotte Foundation. By the act of registering and transmitting personal information, competition candidates agree to these conditions, and are entitled to access and correct this information.

_ Article 7: GUIDELINES

The Wilmotte Foundation reserves the right to postpone, or, in case of “force majeure”, to cancel the present competition. It may not be held liable for doing so, but the Foundation engages to inform the participants of any such action.

In the case of dispute or litigation, the President of the jury’s interpretation of the French version of the competition rules and subject guidelines shall be definitive.

The act of registering for the competition is taken to be acceptance and adherence to the present competition rules.