The Davidson Prize announces three finalists for its inaugural year

The Davidson Prize, set up to reward transformative architecture of the home, announces its three finalists for 2021

Main image: Com-View-Nism by New Normal

Words by FX Magazine

 

The Davidson Prize, created by the Alan Davidson foundation to award transformative architecture of the home, has selected three finalists for its inaugural year. The theme of Home/Work asked for innovative solutions for living and working in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘The Cat Loves it’, image of Com-View-Nism by New Normal

Selected from a shortlist of 18, the three finalists are: Com-View-Nism by New Normal (Pliarch, Studio Yume, Whitby Wood, Mirko Nardecchia, Crowd Control, Idea Design), with a pop-out window extension to bridge the gap between street and home; HomeForest by HomeForest (Haptic Architects, Squint/Opera, LionHeart and Jingyuan Meng), suggesting bringing artificial nature indoors in line with the Japanese concept of shinrin-yoku (forest bathing); and The AntiPODy by Origin 3 Studio, proposing swapping parked cars on streets for work pods.

Image from HomeForest by HomeForest

The judging panel comprised Alison Brooks, Thomas Heatherwick, Michelle Ogundehin, Narinder Sagoo and Sonia Solicari. The panel chose submissions that they felt would resonate with both industry professionals, but also the wider public. Solicari commented:

‘The submissions from dynamic cross-disciplinary teams are wide-ranging and inspiring, often with a hint of humour in the face of adversity. What is striking however is that many of the emerging themes are not new problems, but those that we have been grappling with for centuries: social networks and connectivity; modular, agile and flexible solutions to multi-use spaces; biophilia and reconnecting with the outside world; making the most of underused space in our cities. We look forward to seeing the three finalists develop their ideas further – it’s going to be a tough competition!’

 

The Antipody by Origin 3 Studio

The three finalists have been given £5,000 to develop their ideas as a visual media presentation; the overall winner will be announced in June during the London Festival of Architecture, and awarded £10,000. 

thedavidsonprize.com

 

About the Alan Davidson Foundation

Alan Davidson was an architect and visualiser. His passions lay in storytelling, communicating and bringing to life architects’ visions for audiences including the wider public. Best known for pioneering architectural visualisation, he founded the world-leading visualisation studio Hayes Davidson in London in 1989. In 2012 Alan was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease and sadly lost his battle against the disease in 2018. Alan set up the Foundation a few years after his diagnosis with a view to helping others also afflicted by MND and to support collaboration in architecture, visualisation and design. A final wish was that his Foundation initiate a yearly architecture and communication prize. The dual purpose of the prize is to promote people focused approaches to architecture and to celebrate innovative communication, visualisation, technology and art.