10th Alvar Aalto Medal Awardee -Tegnesteun Vandkunsten

Feb. 3. The tenth Alvar Aalto Medal has been
awarded to the Danish architectural practice Tegnestuen
Vandkunsten. Representatives of the team received the award
today at the headquarters of the Social Insurance
Institution of Finland (KELA) designed by Alvar Aalto. This
is the first time that the Alvar Aalto Medal was awarded to
a team of architects instead of an individual.

Since its establishment in 1967, the Alvar Aalto Medal has
been awarded approximately every five years to persons with
significant achievements in creative architecture.

For almost forty years now, Tegnestuen Vandkunsten has
focused on residential architecture and housing
developments. In this field, the group has been a pioneer
and trend-setter with designs characterized by
convertibility, communality, residential involvement,
dense-low rise, and sustainable development – long before
they became buzzwords in residential architecture and
policies.


tegnestuen vandkunsten, dianas have housing, hørsholm 1991, originally uploaded by seier+seier+seier.

Working as a team and recognizing social dynamics have been
the necessary prerequisites and main source of inspiration
for the creative work produced by Vandkunsten’s 30
designers. For Vandkunsten, social awareness is also a
source of beauty which does not compromise their ability to
retain a firm grip over aesthetically perfected and
innovative spaces, forms and materials.

Vandkunsten is a link that combines the best traditions of
the Nordic welfare society with those of Nordic
architecture. Vandkunsten’s work is a modern interpretor
and elaborator of Alvar Aalto’s ideological heritage.

For more information.