| Petia Ratzov from France and Calle Hall-Karlström from Sweden won honourable mention in the International VELUX Award 2006 for their project “Cultivated shadows” representing the Lund University in Sweden. Petia and Calle worked for six weeks on this project and studied the reaction of light according to different shapes, environments and materials. At the core of the project was a wish to evaluate the potential of light and shadow to change space. |
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Petia graduated from the School of Architecture of Paris – La Villette in September 2007. Her graduation project was the reconstruction of the southern suburb of Beirut after the war of July 2006. We asked Petia about her experience with IVA 2006 and what her participation in the Award has meant to her.
What has your achievement in IVA 2006 meant to your further studies and career?
It was my first architectural competition and being awarded encouraged me further to suggest innovative or provocative ideas in architecture. The Award event was a great experience, both personally and architecturally. I spent the prize money to finance my study trip to Beirut in connection with my graduation project.
What influence did the Award have on your way of working with architecture in general and daylight in particular?
The Award definitely changed my way of considering daylight in my works. It made me realize the importance of sunlight at different levels: a social level, an architectural level, an aesthetic level and an environmental level.
What kind of contacts did you make in connection with the International VELUX Award 2006 for Students of Architecture?
My honourable mention in IVA 2006 resulted in some media contacts in Sweden, and my project has been part of a general exhibition about IVA after the Award event and part of an exhibition organized by the ETH school in Zurich. It has been very rewarding to see that even months after the Award event, the IVA projects are still alive and interesting and that they still gather attention. On a more personal level I have stayed in touch with some of the other awarded students that I met at the Award event in Bilbao.
Would you recommend The International VELUX Award for Students of Architecture to other students – and why?
I would definitely recommend other students to participate in the International VELUX Award. The competition brief is an open discussion about daylight that allows great freedom to interpret the theme. The freedom of interpretation contributed to the large variety in the projects that were nominated and mentioned at the Award event.