BIG ARCHITECTURE 09
INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE EVENT
SUSTAINABLE EXCELENCE
CONFERENCE, EXHIBITION AND AWARDS
MAY 14TH, 2009
EXHIBITION AND CONVENTION CENTRE, LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA

In spring 2009, Zavod Big will host its second annual architectural conference, entitled “Sustainable Excellence”. As issues surrounding quality, sustainability and responsibility become increasingly central to very creative enterprise the theme has particular relevance, implications and impact. The conference explores a host of questions which explore the relationship between quality design, innovation, sustainability, creativity and responsibility; and the powerful possibilities intelligent approaches to these issues can produce. A selection of internationally-active and engaged architects address these issues through their exceptional work and through a dynamic dialogue-process within the framework of ‘Sustainable Excellence’.

Programme:

09.00-10.00 Registration
10.00-10.15 Conference and Exhibition Opening
10.15-11.00 Sam Dufaux; Work Architecture Company, USA
11.00-11.45 Klaudia Cacic; Bucholz McEvoy, Ireland
11.45-12.00 Break
12.00-12.45 Bjarne Mastenbroek; Search BV, Netherlands
12.45-13.30 Jenni Reuter; Hollmén Reuter Sandman Architects, Finland
13.30-14.30 Break
14.30-15.15 Nicolas Ziesel; PLAN01 and Julien Zanassi; Philéas, France
15.15 – 16.00 Simon Ewings; Snøhetta, Norway
16.00-16.15 Break
16.15-17.00 David Lorente Ibanez & Josep Ricart, H Arquitectes, Spain
17.00-17.30 Panel discussion
18.00 Award giving ceremony

Moderator: Jeff Bickert

People working in a vast array of fields related to architecture, building, design, development and planning enjoy a unique opportunity to take part in the sustainable excellence interchange.

Snøhetta AS is an architectural practice based in Oslo, Norway and New York City, USA., with the present organisation established in 1989, when they won – firm among more than 500 architects worldwide – the competition for the new library in Alexandria, Egypt.
Simon Ewings is a Project Manager & Senior Architect at Snøhetta. The firm works from its own premises, located within an old warehouse by the waterfront in the Oslo dock area. The calmness of the location and the open office plan strengthens the co-operative attitude and simplifies internal communication and sharing of experience. The office has more than 120 employees from 17 nations, with a conscious mix of gender and age.
Snøhetta has developed a reputation for maintaining a strong relationship between landscape and architecture in all of its projects. They’re committed to the idea of teamwork throughout the entirety of the design process. The office is multidisciplinary, comprised of architects, landscape architects, interior architects and industrial designers working closely with artists and engineers as collaborators.
The practice, Ewings emphasises, strives for eco-effective and beautiful design solutions, with the aim of achieving “good growth”, i.e. spaces that are experiential, restorative and attractive; creating accessible habitats adapted to the surrounding culture, climate and ecosystem. Ongoing investigation and advanced technology, he notes, are core tools in creating cost-effective sustainable designs.

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WORK Architecture Company (WORKac) was founded in 2002 by Amale Andraos and Dan Wood. Now a 16-person firm based in New York City the office is engaged in projects at all scales.
From their studio on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Wood and Andraos work together with employees from Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Korea, Spain, and Australia. “We see difference as a strength, as a source of ideas,” says Wood.
Senior Associate Sam Dufaux received a M.S. in Architecture from Columbia University after earning his professional architecture degree in Switzerland, where he is a licensed architect. He was also a visiting scholar at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok as well as at the Bauhaus Foundation in Dessau, Germany working on urban research projects.
Defaux has led a number of projects  and competitions for WORKac, including the Anthropologie building in Corona, CA from design concept through construction. This 1,000 m2 store  was awarded a AIA NY Chapter Merit Interior Architecture Award in 2008. The White Street loft, a 557 m2 three-storey residence in TriBeCa for fashion designer Lela Rose is under construction and will be completed in 2009.
Prior to joining WORKac, Sam was a designer at Studio Daniel Libeskind in Berlin, Germany working on the large scale WESTside leisure and commercial center in Bern, Switzerland. As part of this 14 ha mixed-used project, Sam was the designer for the 9,300 m2 swimming recreational center from schematic design to construction documents. The building includes fitness, saunas, restaurant and swimming facilities.

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Bucholz McEvoy Architects is an international practice with offices in Berlin and Dublin. The firm is one of the leading offices in sustainable design worldwide, with particular attention to reducing both energy demand and maintenance and extending life-span. This low energy ethos is applied to all areas of design and research and forms the core of every design’s form, quality, and use. This philosophy is extended on a range of different types of projects, from urban design to furniture design. In each step of the design process working collaboratively, embedding concepts of energy reduction, a clear understanding of human behaviour on energy demand and use of space, research of materials and technologies, are for them the keys to developing truly sustainable, beautiful, low energy designs.
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The architects Saija Hollmén (b. 1970), Jenni Reuter (b. 1972) and Helena Sandman (b. 1972) started their collaboration in 1995 with the Women’s Centre project in Senegal. Today, their activities range from interiors to urban planning. They work with projects in Finland as well as in several African countries.
The group works with innovations by investigation, where the landscape, sensitivity towards materials and site-specific interventions are the means for a new architecture. Their work has been honoured with both national and international awards and has been extensively published and exhibited.
Apart from working as visiting critics and lecturers all over the world, the architects also teach at the Helsinki University of Technology. MORE…

H ARQUITECTES is an architecture studio established in 2000 and based in Barcelona, managed by four partner architects – David Lorente Ibáñez, Josep Ricart Ulldemolins, Xavier Ros Majó and Roger Tudó Galí – togetger with team of collaborators, such as architects, interior designers and students.
Their projects have won several prizes and have been widely published. With a clear concept of architecture and a well-defined working philosophy, the office practices a commitment to both social and environmental issues. For them, energy efficiency is a feature that should be present in every project, no longer as an “extra” but as an indispensable common element to each new construction proposal.
“At the moment we work with passive systems that although simple and extensively-used are effective. We’ve committed ourselves to a kind of low-tech architecture, simple and easy to build, which doesn’t look for great innovations but tries to consolidate the positive deep-rooted values found in both architectonical and constructive tradition. We believe in sustainability not as a new paradigm but as a way to work based on common sense, not as the one and only objective but simply as the result of a way of building.”
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SeARCH was established in 2002 by Bjarne Mastenbroek and Ad Bogerman. Before SeARCH Mastenbroek worked in the Van Gameren Mastenbroek project team which was part of the architectengroep in Amsterdam since 1993.
Consisting of around 30 international architects, designers and staff members, SeARCH develops architectural and urban projects and does research on architecture, landscaping, urbanism and new building products and materials.
The office’s key built works include Enschede (NL) – Cultuurcluster, museum, housing and studios; Den Helder (NL), Julianadorp – Juniorcollege, school building; Almere (NL), Blok 5, housing + shopping hall; the Dutch Embassy in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia); and the Posbank Pavilion.
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PLAN01 is architecture with a difference.  A group of both agencies and architects, PLAN01 is an organisation unlike any other, with 10 partners, 4 associated agencies (Atelier du Pont, BP Architectures, KOZ and Atelier Philéas) and a shared workplace in the 12th Arrondissement in Paris.
Established in 2002 and unlike other architectural organisations, PLAN01 is distinguished by its innovative, multifaceted and avant-garde approach. It’s a utopian entity created by architects who all manage their own agencies.
The Group jointly puts imaginative ideas into practice and also ventures into the paralell areas of publishing, culture and events. PLAN01 always initiates their projects in segments, and always together with its 10 partners. MORE…