Winners of the PRIX W 2020

Dear participants,

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR INTEREST AND YOUR PROJECTS!

For 15 years, the Wilmotte Foundation has been promoting the meeting of heritage and contemporary creation through the organization of the Prix W, dedicated to students and young architects.

For this new edition of the Prix W, the participants were invited to rethink the château de la Tour d’Aigues around the theme «Wines and Gastronomy». This challenge represents a true architectural “graft” approach, which has been put forward to students and young architects from schools of architecture in Europe, Switzerland and also for the first stime in Russia.

On June 23rd 2020, the jury chaired by Mr. Jean-François LOVISOLO, Mayor of la Tour d’Aigues, gathered in Paris in order to select and award the projects for the Prix W 2020.

The winning projects, will be exhibited in the gallery of the Wilmotte Foundation in Venice during the Biennale of Architecture in May 2021, and published in a book dedicated to the competition.

The Ex-aequo winners are:

Alvaro Olivares (26) & Esther Sanchis (25), Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura de Valencia, Espagne • Horizon

Julien Picard (24) & Julien Desbat (23), École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Nantes, France • Grammaire d’une nouvelle Cité

Lambert Gabillet (27), ENSA Montpellier, France • Cultures des Sols, Sols des Cultures

Honorable Mentions of the Prix W 2020

Yorgos Apostolopoulos (26), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece & Francesco Rosati (26), Accademia di architettura di Mendrisio, Italy • Agora

Elisabeth Sala (25) & Charlotte Batifoulier (27), Matthieu Faria (25) & Pauline Soulenq (24) (collectif Microcosmes), Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’architecture de Clermont-Ferrand, France • Aigues Wide Shut

Amélie Besvel (22) & Florian Bechet (27), Ecole Nationale supérieure d’architecture Paris-La Villette, France • Au(x) Tour(s) d’Aigues

Amélie Lhomet (22), Ecole d’architecture de Bordeaux, France • Contretemps

Céline Veaute (23) & Élise Lartigue (22), ENSAPBX, France • Éclosion

Jules Villegas (29) & Gabrielle Chapuis (25), ENSAG, France • Fondation Turre de Aquis

Clémentine Huck (24) & Maël Barbe (25), École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Versailles, France • Le château de la Tour d’Aigues : Saveurs & Savoirs

Anastasya Cornu (22) & Joseph Reymond (29), Ensap Bordeaux, France • Lever de Rideau

Pier Nicolò Pantani (30), Istituto Universitario di Architettura Venezia, Italy • Orangerie Verticale

Introduction

Since 2005, the Wimotte Foundation has promoted, through the W Prize, a dialogue between architectural heritage and contemporary creation. For its 9th edition, you are invited to breathe life back into the Château de la Tour d’Aigues, situated in the Luberon region of France. You are to imagine a new center dedicated to wine and gastronomy, developed around the principal of the architectural graft. We are expecting innovative and creative projects, at the height of the site and its future ambitions. The winning projects, selected by an international jury, will be remunerated, exposed dans la gallery of the Foundation in Venice, and published in a book dedicated to the competition.

CONTEXt

Masterpiece of the Renaissance in Provence, the Château de la Tour d’Aigues is located at the foot of the Luberon mountains, in the Vaucluse.

HISTORy

The château is built on the foundations of a medieval building. It stands as a testimony to the private architecture of the Renaissance. This beautiful building had the honor of receiving Catherine de Medici in 1574. Partially damaged by a fire in 1780, then destroyed by the revolutionaries, the facades of the castle offer elegant proportions. Its initial plan is inspired by the great chateaux of Ile de France: a square courtyard surrounded by three wings and two symmetrical pavilions, and closed by a gallery pierced by a triumphal portal. Today, the château is the property of the department of Vaucluse, and has been managed by the town hall of the Tour d'Aigues since 2017.

For this new edition of the W Prize, you are invited to rethink the château de la Tour d’Aigues around the theme "Wines and Gastronomy" and bring it into the 21st century. A market, a culinary school, workshops, a vinotheque, exhibition spaces, areas for tasting, catering spaces, a hotel, co-working spaces, a museum, greenhouses, educational gardens, vegetable gardens, etc… can all be part of your programming. The chateau should also be able to host festivals and ephemeral events. You are free to combine the different components of the theme to imagine a unique program for the château, while respecting its history (see appendices of the program). Note that the château currently hosts the tourist office and the earthenware museum in the south-east tower. This programmatic part should be maintained or displaced.

An open and friendly place

Transform the château of the Tour d'Aigues into a place of meetings and exchanges. Reveal the convivial and festive dimension of gastronomy.

 A space of transmission (know-how, an art of living)

 To unveil the tangible and intangible heritage of the place, to promote the transmission of the gastronomic heritage (education of eating-well, culinary arts & epicureanism) and architectural heritage.

 A "responsible" and innovative place

Turning to the future thanks to the use of new technologies, this revitalized place will accompany the emergence of new uses and new trends in taste, aesthetics and the culture of flavors. Tomorrow's diet is a healthy and quality diet, committed and ethical, that takes into account its environmental impact. As a responsible development initiative for the city and its region, your project can include partnerships with companies, artisans and local producers ...

The final constructed area must be at least 5000 sq.m and can not exceed 7500 sq.m

 Your intervention will mainly take place inside perimeter 1 (see diagram 1 below). Nevertheless, your project can be extended to the near environment including the parking in front (perimeter 2). The landscaped areas and access to the site should also be integrated into your reflection.

Your architectural graft can be of any kind and scale. However, all the original architectural elements should be highlighted.

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 2020 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 graduates from architecture schools from the European Union, U.K, Switzerland and Russia, who graduated after January 1st, 2017. (NB: The date of the State Architect Diploma is relevant, not the HMONP’s. “Student” embraces any student in architecture schools, from first grade to diploma. Architects who graduated from a European (English or Swiss or Russian) architecture school, but now live/work outside Europe are allowed to participate). Participants will have to prove their current or past inscription (when submitting their project). Participation in the competition can either be individual architects or by team of 2 people maximum. Each team member has to comply with the previously mentioned criteria.

Each candidate may only submit one project. A multiple-entry candidate will automatically be rejected. Individual and collective disqualification will take place if he or she is already on a participating team. Neither actual nor former collaborators of the Wilmotte & Associés practice may participate, be it directly or indirectly, in the competition. Failure to comply with these rules will entail immediate disqualification for the candidate or the candidate group(s) in question.

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 May 6th, 2020.

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 Wednesday, May, the 25, 2020 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 August the 26th 2020. 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 will be composed of architects, journalists, artists, and other qualified professionals. The President of the jury will be elected by his co-jurors.

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.

No other indemnity may be claimed.

_ 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.

Remerciements