The initiative “Empower-Shack” on the longlist of 2018 RIBA
The initiative “Empower-Shack” of two ISTP Professors of the Chair of Architecture and Urban Design (Prof. Alfredo Brillembourg & Prof. Hubert Klumpner) has made it on the longlist of Royal Institut for British Architects (RIBA) 2018 RIBA International Prize for World´s Best Building.
The project
Empower Shack is a project that shows how to deal with the global migration and refugee crisis. The project is an urban upgrading program for innovative housing which integrates people and considers the aspects of policy, infrastructure, urban challenges, innovative construction and energy solution. Low costs will allow to reproduce the houses in a large number of units. Empower Shack is placed in a township in South Africa and had also been visited by delegates of the Swiss embassy and Mauro Dell' Ambrogio, the Swiss state secretary for Education Research and Innovation.
The award
The award considers the world’s best new buildings completed in the past two years that exemplify “design excellence, architectural ambition and delivering meaningful social impact. The external page RIBA International List 2018 shines a light on the world’s best new buildings and most impressive architectural talent,” said RIBA President, Ben Derbyshire. “Most importantly, this significant selection of 62 projects illustrates the meaningful impact and transformative quality that well-designed buildings can have on communities, wherever they are in the world.” The shortlist for the RIBA International Prize will be selected from this list by a Grand Jury led by esteemed architect Elizabeth Diller of Diller Scofidio + Renfro. The overall winner of the external page RIBA International Prize will be announced in December 2018.
Read more a news article about the Empower Shack project: external page Urban Think Tank Takes on Housing in South Africa's Townships
Learn more about the external page Empower Shack project.