Urban Intervention Award Berlin 2013 and the Urban Living Award 2013

Innovative architectural projects for urban stimuli

The Urban Intervention Award Berlin, which was presented for the first time in 2010 on a European level by the Senate Department of Urban Development and the Environment Berlin, will, in cooperation with the Deutsche Wohnen AG, be expanded in 2013 to include the new Urban Living Award.
This year, for the first time, prize money in the amount of 3,000 € will be awarded for each of the categories "Built", "Temporary" and "Living". This prize money has been donated by the Deutsche Wohnen AG.

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About the Urban Intervention Award Berlin 2013:

By the middle of this century, more than 65 percent of the world’s population will be living in cities. This places public authorities, in particular, in the challenging position of simultaneously being the initiator, the stimulator and the promoter of forward-looking inner-city processes.

In order to recognise and promote processes of this kind, this year the Senate Department of Urban Development and the Environment is presenting the Europe-wide Urban Intervention Award for the second time and, with this call for projects, invites interested parties to present their entries.

The goal of the Urban Intervention Award Berlin is to contribute significantly to the improvement of the quality of life in an urban environment. Above all, we wish to recognise the creative development of new urban locations of high architectural quality. In their vital charisma, these projects have an exemplary character for their surroundings, and they were created through innovative and interdisciplinary cooperation between partners from different fields such as culture, architecture, business, initiative groups and social forces, etc.

The Urban Intervention Award Berlin is intended to bring to the public eye interventions in urban space which contribute substantially to newly defining, revitalising and valorising inner-city neighbourhoods. This can be the case with the transformation and conversion of old buildings as well as with new construction, temporary buildings and installations in the urban space. It is not a matter of achieving architectural effects or an expressive design vocabulary, but of architecture as a stimulator of processes which contribute to transforming a location.

The prizes will be given to outstanding realised projects which are examples of excellent architecture in conjunction with new innovative concepts of use and/or conversion, and which were developed through cooperation between partners coming from varying fields and disciplines.

In order for a project to be entered for the Urban Intervention Award Berlin 2013, it must have been realised in Europe within the past five years. Projects which were already entered in 2010 cannot be entered again.

The Urban Intervention Award Berlin is composed of two categories:

• Built - a realised construction project
• Temporary - a realised temporary project

In both categories, information must be provided about:

• the urban and spatial approach
• the sociocultural and societal context
• design aspects
• the use concept
• the cooperation between project partners.

In addition, we require a description of the stimuli the proposed project provides for the development of the urban environment.

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About the Urban Living Award 2013 :

In 2013, Deutsche Wohnen AG is participating for the first time in the Urban Intervention Award Berlin presented by the Senate Department for Urban Development and the Environment and in the new Urban Living Award.

This large, market-listed housing corporation with its Berlin subsidiary GEHAG, which was founded in 1924, is committed to its own outstanding architectural history. Between 1924 and 1932, GEHAG’s preferred architect Bruno Taut built thousands of high-quality dwellings, which, now enjoying the status of architectural monuments, are still managed today by the same corporation. Deutsche Wohnen AG, which owns over 90,000 dwellings all over Germany, owns four of the six Modernist housing estates listed as UNESCO World Heritage in Berlin. Various factors motivate Deutsche Wohnen AG to sponsor the Urban Intervention Award Berlin and the Urban Living Award: its historic bond with Berlin, its concern with building culture and architectural history, and its desire to share its own competence in the field of "living" to advance current forward-looking inner-city processes.

Many European cities are experiencing rapid growth. After a period of stagnation, Berlin is now growing again too. This growth process is accompanied by an increase in the demand for living space. Rents are going up, population density in inner-city quarters is increasing, and economically driven population displacement processes are becoming noticeable. The question arises as to how young and old people, long-time residents and newcomers, the socially underprivileged and the middle class, and singles and families can live together with their diverse requirements in socially heterogeneous neighbourhoods in an innovative, climate-friendly, inexpensive and architecturally sustainable manner.

We are looking for projects which offer a new design for residing and living together and which make an impact on their urban environment. We would like to see new financing models, wise user constellations, and standards, designs and sustainability concepts which raise the bar for future projects. The project builders can be small joint building ventures, cooperatives, housing societies or responsible investors.

The Urban Living Award 2013 recognises outstanding realised projects which are examples of excellent architecture in the area of forward-looking, integrative models for housing and living in conjunction with new innovative concepts of use and/or conversion, and which were developed through cooperation between partners coming from varying fields and disciplines.
We are interested in both housing-specific topics, such as accessibility, multi-generation homes and participation, and in topics related to connecting residential projects with such partners in the urban environment as childcare, schools and nursing homes. With the high building standards in effect today, providing inexpensive housing poses a considerable challenge. For this reason, projects will also be judged by the costs incurred to their future residents.

In order for a project to be entered for the Urban Living Award 2013, it must have been realised in Europe within the past five years.

Information must be provided about:

• the social target groups
• whether the project targets tenants or buyers
• the financing model and financing partners
• whether public funding was used
• the sustainability concept concerning energy standards and materials
• the architectural, spatial implementation
• the urban and spatial approach
• the sociocultural and societal context
• design aspects
• the use concept
• the cooperation between project partners.

In addition, we require a description of the stimuli the proposed project provides for the development of the urban environment.