The International Union of Architects (UIA) is pleased to announce the results of the fifth edition of the Golden Cubes Awards, organised by the UIA Architecture and Children Work Programme.
Created to honour people and/or organisations that help children and young people to understand architecture and the built environment better, this prize is awarded in 4 categories: Institutions, Schools, Written Media and Audio-Visual Media.
Following a national selection process, 31 countries submitted 30 nominations in the 'Institutions' category, 19 entries in the 'School' category, 17 in the 'Written Media' category and 15 in the 'Audio and Visual Media' category.
The International Jury consisting of Carla Rinaldi (Italy), Angela Uttke Million (Germany), Krisztina Somogyi (Hungary), Jorge Raedo (Colombia), Heba Safey Eldeen (Egypt), Ken-Ichi Suzuki (Japan) and Peter Exley (USA), met virtually on 29 March and 18 April 2023 to evaluate the national nominated entries and select one in each category for an Award. The jury also selected 8 additional entries for Honourable Mentions.
INSTITUTIONS CATEGORY
Laureate:
Kultur & Spielraum e.V. – Conny Beckstein, Margit Maschek-Grüneisl, Gerd Grüneisl, Hans-Jörg Polster, Marion Schäfer, Sarah Schrenk, Joscha Thiele, Joschi Baudach, Max Conradi, Odysseas Deutsch, Felix Ganzer, Thomas Kretschmar, Jakob Purreiter, Lewis Ryan Thompson, Davida Zimmer, Katharina Matzig, Dr. Maximilian Urban, Melanie Hammer, Prof. Birgit Dietz, Prof. Rasu Watanabe, Elisabeth Merk
Play City Mini-Munich (Architecture and urban planning with children) (Germany)
“Through a simple holiday game that engages children, families, experts and different city institutions, the playing practices offer children a variety of role in which they have various planning and design decisions to make.”
Honourable mentions:
ArkiPlay – Architecture is for all! – Maria Teresa Penas, Eliana Nuñez, Victor Sousa, Sabrina Silveira, Monica Pinto, participating children
Let’s renovate our garden and make bridges out of walls (Portugal)
"This participatory project succeeds to alter the abandoned locations into sustainable, joyful, playful, amiable, edutainment spaces for kids, setting an example to be followed in many parts of the world."
Arkibag – Charlotte Carstensen, Julie Dufour
Architecture building kits for hospitalized children (Denmark)
"Through playing with the architecture kit, the children’s enthusiasm, imagination and creativity are amplified, leaving them with brighter hopes for their roles as cocreators of their built environment upon departing the hospitals."
SCHOOLS CATEGORY
Laureate:
Architectural studio WORKS, Social Welfare Corporation HITONONE, SAIKAIENGEI, KUSAKANMURI, SAKANTOKURA, Bluemoondesign Office, Machi no Atelier
Workshop centred on building a straw hut (Japan)
“The “Entei” project links the young children with their vegetation and agricultural heritage, and highlights the relationship and aspects with the local building culture and vernacular architecture.”
Honourable mentions:
Great Blessings Christian Learning Centre, Rayfield, JOS – Erekpitan Ola-Adisa, Aniefiok Eteudoh, Peter Agara, Deborah Awodi, Chinyere Chukwudebelu
Thank God it’s Friday, TGIF Assemblies (Nigeria)
"Through art, recycling and repurposing of material with the help of professional technical experts, the project develops the children’s critical thinking and problem-solving skills to find creative solutions while learning about their indigenous culture."
Secondary School, Cornesti Village, Iasi, Romania – Dimitrie Anghel, DE-A Architectura Association, Zi de Bine Association, A+NOIMA
The Park Tribune (Romania)
"They utilised the available material to design and implement an amphitheatre park with customised benches, creating an area for relaxation, a playground, an outdoor classroom and a location that will brings the entire community together in social and cultural events."
WRITTEN MEDIA CATEGORY
Laureate:
GYIK – Műhely Foundation (Creative Art Studio for Children and Youth) – Anna Eplényi PhD, Rita Terbe, Dóra Szentandrási, Gertrúd Schmidt, Fruzsina Barta, Borbála Tóth, Dávid Kara, Gergely Kárpáti, Kristóf Tolonics
LANDSCAPE-SPACE-REPOSITORY+, Creations to boost visual-spatial intelligence (Hungary)
"This well-structured methodical handbook makes landscape education easy through an architecture and art approach. The book starts with providing tasks from abstract spatial concepts gradually and smoothly till actual three-dimensional arts, crafts and design tasks."
Honourable mentions:
Marta Brkovic Dodig, Milena Vasic, Mina Radic, Marta Nikolic, Tea Ostojic, Andjela Bajic, Ana Andrejevic
Spector – The Sustainability Inspector (Serbia)
"A strategic board game which presents an innovative way of introducing multiple architectural aspects including the UN17 Sustainable Development Goals to children. The game also emphasises the importance of the built heritage."
Takaguchi Laboratory, Waseda University / Maeda Laboratory, Takasaki University of Commerce / Insplace Inc. – Hiroto Takaguchi, Ketsuka Chen, Mio Sekine, Yuka Senga, Ayano Kasuya, Shoichiro Furuta, Koki Ueda, Mina Umezawa, Ruka Saito, Tomoyo Nishide, Takuo Maeda, Toru Fukuda
Development of SDGs Super City Game: Card game of new concepts for the next generation (Japan)
"Through this challenging game board, children are able to draw and prioritise city planning goals and allocate building typologies along sustainable thinking criteria and considerations."
AUDIO-VISUAL MEDIA CATEGORY
Laureate:
Megawra | Athar Lina – Hadeer Saeed Dahab, Vitor Hugo Costa, Jessica Jacobs, Hana Ayman, Jana Ayman, Fatma AlaaElDeen, Malak AlaaElDeen, Hussein Khaled, Aya Mohammed, Mohamed Abd AlNasser, Jomana Walid, Omar Mohammed, Rodina Mohamed, Mazen Mohamed, Rawan Hany, Roaqiya Ahmed, Youssef Hany, Nour AlHuda Ahmed, Abdulrahman Mahrous, Omar Hany Shehata, Shahinaz Saby Elawady
Al-Khalifa Urban Dreams (Egypt)
"This project captured the youth’s change of their own perspective and relationships to the natural and urban heritage of their vulnerable historic area. The developed personal stories through films acknowledge the social and economic values of their historic districts and enhances awareness of broader environmental issues."
Honourable mentions:
Insomnia Studio – Nir Cohen, Hadasa Greenberg-Yaakov
Street Play JLM (Israel)
"The game route strengthens children’s awareness of the city streets, hidden squares and alleys, while the virtual reality supports farther knowledge of bygone folklore and people of the city."
Dr. Ipek Türeli, Matt James, Happy Camper Media, Dr. Maija-Liisa Harju, Zhuofan Chen, Audrey Boutot, Sihem Attari, Pastille Rose, Audrey Boutot
Architecture Playshop: Developing critical literacy with young children around climate change, forced migration and the built environment (Canada)
"Climate change, fossil fuels, greenhouse gasses, pollution, clean energy, global warming, climatic migration, renewable building, materials, solar gains, etc., are issues introduced to young children through this project."
The first prize projects will be exhibited at the UIA Architecture and Children Work Programme Exhibition during the 28th UIA World Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Find out more about the Award and view the jury report on our website.
