Our Intergenerational Dialogues series focuses on established architects and their contemporary counterparts practising today. For this special talk we brought together 2016 RIBA International Prize winners Grafton Architects and Aleph Zero, who won the prestigious prize in 2018. They discussed their award-winning education projects in South America, where the design of both projects is informed by the unique environmental context.
RIBA International Prize 2016: https://www.architecture.com/awards-and-competitions-landing-page/awards/riba-international-prize/riba-international-prize-2016
RIBA International Prize 2018: https://www.architecture.com/awards-and-competitions-landing-page/awards/riba-international-prize/2018/children-village
Ireland-based Grafton Architects was established by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, who won the RIBA International Prize in 2016 for the University Campus UTEC in Lima, Peru. More recently they were appointed as sole curators of the 16th International Architecture Biennale at Venice, Italy in 2018. The duo have taught and lectured widely and in 2018, both Shelley and Yvonne received University College Dublin’s highest alumni honour – the Ulysses Medal – recognising their outstanding global contribution in architecture. They are Fellows of the RIAI, are International Honorary Fellows of the RIBA and are elected members of Aosdána.
Aleph Zero is a Brazilian practice founded by Gustavo Utrabo and Pedro Duschenes, who won the RIBA International Prize in 2018 for the Children Village in northern Brazil. Among the office’s main recent awards they received in 2018 are the RIBA International Emerging Architect, ArchDaily Building of the Year and third place in Oscar Niemeyer Prize for Latin American architecture. Aleph Zero has also had its work exhibited on several occasions, the main one being the Brazilian pavilion of the Architecture Biennale of Venice in 2018.