“Turning a quasi-neutral and anonymous system into site-specific architecture” – Holcim Awards Jury
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Project entry 2014 North America – Timber-Link: Interlocking panelized timber building system, Cape Dorset, NU, Canada
Remote building: the first example is located in Cape Dorset, Nunavut, located high in the Canadian North. While Cape Dorset has a vibrant arts scene, its building culture suffers a similar fate to other remote communities where new construction is low quality, expensive and architectural expression is “off the shelf”. TimberLink targets these issues through a simple, flexible prefabrication method that is achievable by locals rather than expensive imported labor.
The jury especially commends the author’s courage to revisit concepts pertaining to prefabrication in architecture such as those explored by Konrad Wachsmann and Fritz Haller for the Habitat 67 model community in Montreal. Notwithstanding the criticism to which aggregate housing ensembles were exposed, the proposed scheme aims to learn from history and further develop both construction and assembly to create more adaptable configurations – turning the logic of a quasi-neutral and anonymous system into one producing a site-specific architecture.
Last updated: June 30, 2014 Cambridge, MA, USA
The jury especially commends the author’s courage to revisit concepts pertaining to prefabrication in architecture such as those explored by Konrad Wachsmann and Fritz Haller for the Habitat 67 model community in Montreal. Notwithstanding the criticism to which aggregate housing ensembles were exposed, the proposed scheme aims to learn from history and further develop both construction and assembly to create more adaptable configurations – turning the logic of a quasi-neutral and anonymous system into one producing a site-specific architecture.