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2023 Press ReleaseFor more information, contact info@BerkeleyPrize.org Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Year
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BERKELEY PRIZE 2023 QUESTION
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The Essay competition timeline started on 15 September 2022 with proposals due 1 November 2022. Essay Competition proposals of 500 words each, written by undergraduate students collaborating in one- and two-person teams from 22 countries were received in response to this year’s Question.
The 65-member international Berkeley Prize Committee selected 26 proposals as having particular further promise. These semifinalists were given the opportunity to submit a 2500-word essay by 1 February 2023.
In further celebration of the 25th Anniversary, the Prize Committee also served as this year’s distinguished invited Jury to select the overall winners. Their final selections are:
- A First Prize; a Second Prize (shared by a two-person team); two Third Prizes; a Fourth Prize (shared by a two-person team), and two Honorable Mentions. These 9 students split a purse totaling 35,000USD.
- In addition, four students receive Travel Fellowships totaling 15,000USD.
ESSAY COMPETITION RESULTS
First Place Prize
Hayden Painter studying in the Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Design program in the School of Architecture at Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA for “A Vision for Aging in Rural Appalachia.” (9,000USD)
A Vision for Aging in Rural Appalachia (Extract)
Introduction
A moment is delicate
A glint of frost in crisp dawn
What will become of us in time?
There’s a place nestled deep in the foothills of the Commonwealth of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains in the United States that will never leave me. I always arrived well after sunset. My father would wake me as we turned into a gravel drive after hours of travelling on snaking country roads. I remember the sweet night air and the soft refrain of crickets. Moths flickered by a single porch light as we lugged our suitcases up to my grandmother’s door.
My grandmother’s name was Fonda. Her trailer sat rooted in the soil, at the base of a briar-choked railroad embankment. Out her kitchen window, past a handsome row of pines, the Shenandoah River marked the edge of her property. Over the years, I watched Fonda age right here — in rural Appalachia.
(…)
However, what happens when we age? What happens to someone in a place like this, where winding mountain roads separate friends, where a withdrawal of industry and growing urbanization has bled the region of young people, where elderly females in particular experience high rates of poverty? Will one have support and companionship in later life?
I believe Fonda’s situation is applicable to many older adults in this region. By sharing her story, I aim to posit a vision for the future of aging in rural Appalachia.
(…)
Vision
…If these responsible designs were implemented in Community Land Trust-owned cohousing developments, older adults in rural Appalachia would benefit. These developments should be located in small towns bordering larger cities. …residents could enjoy pedestrian access to town centers while still feeling "tucked away". Natural features like creeks, forests, and lakes would support physical and mental health. These communities thrive when they are multigenerational, and proximity to larger cities would accommodate a variety of residents; families, younger couples, and previously rural seniors. Landscapes should feature a communal gathering place, gardens, workshops, playgrounds, walking trails, and recreational opportunities for all ages and abilities. In these intentional neighborhoods, everyone has a place.
(…)
Within the misty hollows and forested ridges of Appalachia, people will continue to live and age. As human beings, we will always require warmth. Like moths to the glow of a porch light, we’re drawn to the company of others. We need confirmation that we matter to someone; that we’re still visible. In the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a woman who mattered to me lived, aged, and passed. Across the country, many people are undergoing a kindred experience, and they all deserve the option of community.
(Read the full essay)
(One of the four required, descriptive-only illustrations for the essay.)
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Typical rural residences in an Appalachian Hollow |
Second Place Prize (Two-person team)
Rashi Karkoon, studying for a Bachelor of Architecture degree in the Department of Architecture and Upasana Patgiri, studying for a Bachelor of Planning degree in the Urban and Regional Planning Department at the School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, India for “Sab-ki Mandi: Enhancing the Markets of India as an Inclusive Public Space for the Elderly.” (5,500USD each)
Third Place Prize #1
Tushita Basak, studying for a Bachelor of Architecture degree in the Department of Architecture at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India for “Widows of Varanasi: The Ganga, the gallis and the grizzled.” (3500USD)
Third Place Prize #2
Lizzie Turak, studying for a Bachelor of Science, Major in Architecture degree in the College of Design, School of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA for “The Built Environment’s Response to Aging in Place in Metro Atlanta.” (3500USD)
Fourth Place Prize (Two-person team)
Ieshika Singh and Ashima Sani, each studying for a Bachelor of Architecture Degree in the Department of Architecture at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India for "Greying Hair and Hopes: Senior Citizens of Mukarimnagar.” (2500USD each)
Honorable Mention
Jerome Kimani, studying for a Bachelor of Architecture degree in the Department of Architecture, School of Architecture and Building Sciences at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Juja, Kenya for “FROM SPARE ROOM TO SPARE CHANGE: Adaptive reuse for economic revitalization of homesteads in Rural Africa.” (1500USD)
Honorable Mention
Mulika Stephen, studying for a Bachelor of Architecture degree in the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda for “Environmental Design for the Elderly.” (1500USD)
All of the winning essays, plus more top-scoring essays are available
to be read on the website on the Berkeley Prize “Reserve” page, see:
http://berkeleyprize.org/endowment/the-reserve/
The Berkeley Prize Committee consists of architectural professionals and scholars from around the world who are recognized leaders or upcoming, promising figures in their representative disciplines. They are all dedicated to pushing the field of architecture to do much more to integrate social issues and a social perspective into the design process.
For a list and profiles of all the Berkeley Prize Committee Members, see:
http://berkeleyprize.org/endowment/berkeley-prize-committee/
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TRAVEL FELLOWSHIP RESULTS
All Essay Competition semifinalists are eligible to submit proposals for the Travel Fellowship. The purpose of the travel is to join an on-going program or project that reflects or reinforces research into the social art of architecture.
This is an exciting hands-on opportunity to further explore the application of the precepts of the social art of architecture and to introduce students to the wider world of architecture. Priority is given to proposals that further the student’s research or to study other aspects of this year’s topic, but all proposals are evaluated on their own merits.
We ask that the opportunity be located outside of the students’ school, outside of their local community and region, and preferably outside of their country. Each selected students receives a stipend sufficient for round-trip airfare, daily expenses, and program costs for their travel plans.
The BP2023 Travel Fellowships are awarded to:
Angelika Baileen Lejao, studying for the Bachelor of Science in Architecture degree in the School of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology at St. Mary’s University, Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya, the Philippines. Travel to Denmark to attend the International Union of Architects (UIA) World Congress of Architects 2023: “SUSTAINABLE FUTURES, LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND.” (3700USD)
Maryanne Muthoni, studying for a Bachelor of Architecture degree in the Department of Architecture, School of Architecture and Building Sciences at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Juja, Kenya. Travel to the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment of the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands for a summer program in Planning and Design for the Just City. (3700USD)
Saavi Natekar, studying for a Bachelor of Architecture degree in the Department of Architecture at the School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, India. Travel to Fez and Beni Oulid, Morocco (via Barcelona) to work as a volunteer on the Lam Alif Media Library project with Aziza Chaouni Projects. (3700USD)
Shaorya Sood, studying for a Bachelor of Architecture degree in the School of Architecture and Planning at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU), Delhi, India. Travel to Germany to attend the GEN (Global Ecovillage Network) Europe and GEN Germany and Nature Community Gathering: “Living Together in a Changing World”; and visits to ecovillages. (3700USD)
The Travel Fellowship requires a written and illustrated report at the conclusion of the travel. These appear on the website in the Fall, 2023.
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BACKGROUND
The Berkeley Prize: How it Works
Each year, the Berkeley Prize Committee poses a Question on the competition website. Students enrolled in any undergraduate architecture program throughout the world or those in collateral disciplines teamed with an undergraduate architecture student are invited to submit a 500-word essay proposal in English responding to the Question.
From this pool of proposals, approximately 25 semifinalists are selected as particularly promising by the Prize Committee, a group of 65 international architects, architectural educators, social scientists, writers, and general thinkers. The semifinalists are then asked to submit a 2,500-word Essay expanding on their proposals.
Two months later, the Committee “re-convenes” to select 7-8 of the best submitted Essays. Finally, the selected Essays are forwarded to a yearly-changing, 4-member Jury of international architects and academics known for their expertise in the specific topic who select the overall winners.
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Some of the Winning Students |
The Essay semifinalists are also offered the opportunity to participate in various Fellowship Competitions. These have included the Travel Fellowship, the Community Service Fellowship and the Architectural Design Fellowship. In addition, the Prize sponsored an experimental Teaching Fellowship for academicians in the field.
During the past twenty-five years, the Prize has received 2985 Essay, Travel, and other Fellowship proposals from 3785 individual students representing dozens of schools of architecture in 88 countries. The Prize has responded by making 188 cash awards to 225 individual students.
In partial recognition of these efforts, the Berkeley Prize is the recipient of the 2008 American Institute of Architects Collaborative Achievement Honor Award. It was given the 2002 American Institute of Architects' Education Honor Award.
The Berkeley Prize has also garnered international acclaim, not the least reason for which is its complete embracing of digital technology. In partial recognition of this outreach, the 2003 Berkeley Prize competition was named a special event of "World Heritage in the Digital Age," a virtual congress helping to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention.
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Winners' biographies and their full submittals; archives of past competitions;
information on Committee Members; and links to other articles on the social art of architecture are all posted at:
www.berkeleyprize.org
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