FEDERICA ZAMBELETTI / KOOZ Firstly, congratulations: the first cohort of Ammodo awardees is truly impressive. Can we start from the genesis of the Ammodo Award for architecture, and at the ambitions of the Foundation?

MARLEEN VAN DRIEL Thank you, I’m happy to hear that; it's been really exciting to share the layers of the projects and their makers. Ammodo is a Dutch foundation that supports art, science and — from this year — architecture, too. We believe that expanding knowledge and developing new perspectives in these fields is crucial to address contemporary challenges and move society forward. Architecture is the newest program alongside art and science; we also make documentaries about the makers we support; artists, scientists and now, also architects.

KOOZ The architecture award is divided into three categories, which include social architecture, social engagement and the local scale; this year, two built projects received the social architecture award, while a plethora of projects were recognised at the local scale. What defines these three categories?

MVD Firstly, it is worth noting that this is an international award; the reason for that is because we face similar urgent challenges in terms of — among others — climate crises, affordable housing and health. With the architecture awards, we really want to show how architecture can contribute to these social and ecological challenges worldwide, and to share knowledge across geographies and scales. We believe that architecture acts at all scales; at each scale it can be a very strong tool for change. This is partly what shaped the categories, to recognise actors at these different levels. For example, at the local scale, we have projects that are not necessarily led by architects; they may be done by a community group. At that small scale, we feel there is no professionalism needed; there are also architectural answers at a very local scale, from within communities and by people themselves. On the other hand, at the largest scale — which we would define as the Social Architecture scale — the profession is really necessary. That's the reason why this award is given to an architect who has a body of work, and whose approach has been sustained for longer periods, at substantial scales. So we try to work across these various scales of projects, but also of practices.

KOOZ It’s extremely interesting to note that you recognise those are external to the profession. How do you evaluate which projects have the greatest impact, and what parameters do you define to select projects across various geographies?

MVD Well, this is the inaugural year of the award; we will need to refine our approach to certain themes and values regarding international projects. This year, we received 240 applications from over 70 countries, assisted by ambassadors and a network of professionals across many regions. Beside their proposals, we ran an Open Call, hoping to reach different networks through academia, related institutions and professional bodies. We also appointed an Advisory Committee representing various regions. This resulted in the eventual selection of 23 nominated projects. There are currently five criteria of judgement, including social engagement, ecological responsiveness, esthetics, exemplary process and plurality of practice; we try to promote an integral approach of these five values, with the ecological and social aspects carrying more weight.

KOOZ Are those values determined by looking at specific projects, or do you consider projects within the context of the broader operations of a certain practice?

MVD We ask our advisory committee to look at the potentials of each project, including the ongoing potential for development. For instance, if award money would go to a community group or an architect or group of professionals, how would that go back into the project? The committee was also very interested to recognise participatory projects. The initiative behind many of the awarded projects really come from their communities, as bottom-up endeavours. The advisory committee was very keen on how these projects developed, how the community was involved during the process was, and how the projects have become embedded in the community.

KOOZ Do eligible projects need to have been created within a number of years? How does one define how well the buildings function and these various scales and regions?

MVD That's a very good question. Well, eligible projects are those initiated between 2020 and 2023; the social architecture and social engagement awards were focused on realised projects but the local scale awards can also be given to projects under construction. We are certainly working on how to define the way something functions, particularly thinking about how a project would endure after five years of use. We also request images of completed projects when they are already occupied and in use; we make enquiries about the experience within the projects we consider. We’re trying to develop new ways to look at how buildings are evaluated after realisation.

KOOZ The duration of projects is certainly worth considering, as there are many initiatives that gain momentary recognition, yet which are demolished very quickly. This is particularly painful when the original intentions were to produce something environmentally sustainable, made with local resources.

MVD This reminds me of a building I went to visit last year in Medellin, but it was not there. I had seen all the images, but they turned out to be renderings; when I went out there, there was no building at all. After the advisory committee had compiled a shortlist, we did some very deep research about all the projects, again through the diplomatic, professional and academic networks mentioned earlier.

KOOZ Let’s focus on the two projects that received the Social Architecture award, both of which are exceptional in their programmatic and social ambitions. The Long House with Engawa offers a challenge to intergenerational housing models, while a new kind of affordable housing is suggested at La Balma. What made these two projects — both in housing — stand out from the rest?

MVD These two projects are both really relevant, tackling challenging issues that are shared across the developing world. In fact, both projects are unique in their simplicity, and they demonstrate intelligence at each stage in the process. Looking at the Long House with Engawa, by Yamazaki Kentaro Design Workshop, one must consider Japan as an aging society. Many care centers — particularly in Japan — are vertically designed; if you are on the fifth floor, it can feel impossible to connect with other people. At the Long House, partly due to the given site, the building itself is 76 metres long. The engawa — drawn from a traditional Japanese typology — was added to the floor plan around the whole building, effectively extending it in space like an orbital deck. This builds communication and integration with the surrounding community, which in turn shares the use of the facility. Children use the building as well as the elderly residents; young people help in the kitchen or in the library, or make use of the garden. This typology makes it so easy for people to stay connected with others and with the ground, with the environment, in a very simple and aesthetic way. So that's what, I think, makes the Long House very special.

La Balma, by Lacol, addresses affordable housing in Barcelona, where the housing problems are so acute; the solution proposed in that project is really interesting. The starting point was to create community housing for long-term affordable living. Besides that, Lacol wanted to ensure sustainable, low energy, high quality living — very ambitious, and they managed to do that. In the end, there are twenty very beautiful dwellings, all connected via a shared stair to the communal infrastructure of the building, including community rooms and a shared rooftop. Besides the basement, the majority of the structure is a cross-laminated timber construction, favouring low tech solutions; it's very cheap to run, compared to other buildings. All of that is difficult to attain, it’s really amazing. Also notable in the work of Lacol is that they are very good at changing policy. In Barcelona, they challenged a policy about car parking and got that overturned, which is how the building became much cheaper; that’s a bold move.

KOOZ Meanwhile, the social engagement award was given to twelve practices which, again, span geographies from Cabo Verde to Chilé — they also include a mix of public and private projects. What kind of engagements does the award seek to recognise?

MVD Our criteria for what constitutes a spatial object is quite general; it’s not restricted to privately owned land or to public space. Again, we believe that architecture works everywhere and at all scales, so from small scale private endeavours to the large urban complexities. Also in terms of those criteria, it’s not that we have a particular approach in mind, for instance, towards ecological responsiveness. It was also up to the advisory committee to judge how well the applicants had interpreted and matched our values; levels of engagement were different for each project. What they have in common, I think, is keeping society in mind in the first place, although the solutions they utilise are very different. There is not one recipe, so to speak.

For example, one of the projects in Cabo Verde is about a particular public space, to which several households are connected. The project began with workshops in which the various connected households would collaborate with local cultural and arts initiatives. There was much to analyse from the way in which these mobilised a network of people; they designed an approach for the neighborhood. In the end, they went much further than the first idea, creating this whole community. The architects and the community came together to take those intentions a step further.

KOOZ There were other examples of this widening of intentions; for example, one around coconut harvesting in Brazil, in which the architecture enables a community to continue ancient and increasingly threatened agricultural practices. In this sense, building becomes an act of resistance; it speaks to the essence of what the community needs to be able to maintain its relationship to the territory,

MVD That is the common thread that our committee was able to find, through the awarded projects; a sense of the project answering community needs, and to design together with them. Sometimes that means working with an existing building, or a public space; in other examples, it’s precisely a new building that is required to support the community and beyond.

KOOZ In this way, the smaller projects seem extremely impactful on the local scale. Extending this scalar relationship between the local and the global, how does Ammodo support initiatives that relate to wider infrastructures, at the planetary scale?

MVD At a planetary or at least global scale, we hope to make these projects visible! It’s important to celebrate and share this work, because some of the intelligence may be possible to repeat and learn from, in other places. So it’s not just the project itself that won the award, but the philosophy and approach of how things came to be. We like to see what happens around the world and share that knowledge, so that others can see it and go on even further. This first year really inaugurates the award program, while the knowledge platform is in development. The base of that platform includes hosting the awarded projects on the website; then we will get deeper extended networks and how we can support them.

There is prize money involved, so applicants were also required to submit a plan for how they would use their award. If the award is given to a realised project, that money can be used for research; it can be developing part of the existing building; it could be more design work. Each project has a unique proposal for how they would make use of the prize money; each category also has a different period of time to spend this sum. The local scale projects should allocate their funds within a year, while the social engagement and social architecture awards have three and five years, respectively. All projects will share updates on the progress of their projects every six months, so that the Foundation can follow and support them.

KOOZ What has the early feedback been within the community of Ammodo, and how do you foresee the awards growing in the future? How should we understand Ammodo in terms of what an architectural award is today and what it can do?

MVDWe have been amazed by the reactions; everybody has been extremely supportive. One thing we heard very often — also an important factor in the participation of all invited advisors — was that the social and ecological focus is of so much importance. Another element is the local scale category; I think this is something quite different from other awards. Most awards have the profession in mind; this category allowed us to share a lot of projects that were not well known, which remain unpublished or under-recognised. We have all been happily surprised by the simple and beautiful architectural answers at the local scale.

Of course, we should reflect every year on the way we compose and select our awards as our engagement with the architectural field grows, and I hope that we can help to take many projects even further with the awards. I hope that in a few years, everyone will really by waiting on the announcement of our awards, to see what’s happening worldwide and to celebrate what good architecture can do.

KOOZ It's an ambitious project; the first year has already been exemplary in terms of compelling narratives from around the world. We look forward to seeing what develops! Thank you so much.

Bios

Marleen van Driel heads Ammodo Architecture, a new architecture programme dedicated to advancing socially and ecologically responsible architecture worldwide, through its yearly Ammodo Architecture Award and knowledge platform. She holds a degree in Architecture from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands, and spent over a decade at Benthem Crouwel Architects, working on high-profile complex public projects. She served as Associate Architect for Sustainability at the multidisciplinary firm Rijnboutt. Here, she contributed to the firm’s integral sustainability efforts, both in strategy and research projects. She worked on urban densification projects with the aim of improving the living environment for humans and nature alike. Alongside her design work, Marleen has contributed to academia as a tutor in the EXTREME Architecture studio at TU Delft.

Federica Zambeletti is the founder and managing director of KoozArch. She is an architect, researcher and storyteller whose interests lie at the intersection between art, architecture and regenerative practices. In 2022 Federica founded KoozArch with the ambition of creating a space where to research, explore and discuss architecture beyond the limits of its built form. Prior to dedicating her full attention to KoozArch, Federica collaborated with the architecture studio and non-profit agency for change UNA/UNLESS working on numerous cultural projects and the research of "Antarctic Resolution". Federica is an Architectural Association School of Architecture in London alumni.