Over the years, architect Ralph Erskine has received several of the world’s principal distinctions and prizes for his architecture. He has amalgamated the proceeds into a fund, the Ralph Erskine Nordic Stipend Fund administered by the Swedish Association of Architects.
The Ralph Erskine Award was established by the Fund in 1988 and amounts to 10.000 USD. According to the charter of the Fund the Award is to be conferred upon an individual, group or organization for innovation in architecture and urban design with regard to social, ecological and aesthetic aspects. The efforts of the applicant are to have benefitted primarily the less privileged in society.
Alfredo Brillembourg and Hubert Klumpner receives the Ralph Erskine Award 2010
The Ruth and Ralph Erskine Award of 2010 is granted to Alfredo Brillembourg and Hubert Klumpner for their dedicated work aiming at improving living and social conditions for ever growing billions of poor people that inhabit the slum areas of the worlds megacities.
Through their architects practice, the Urban Think Tank, founded in Caracas, Venezuela but now also working from New York and in Sao Paolo, Brazil, Alfredo Brillembourg (left picture) and Hubert Klumpner have with realized projects, projects under way, exhibitions and writings convincingly proved that architecture for the less benefitted of the world is more than an matter of design. Real change of living conditions can only be realized through social initiatives and collective endeavors in close collaboration with the local inhabitants. This approach has been convincingly proved in realized works as the Vertical Gymnasium, the Autistic Children School and the Metro Cable Line all in Caracas; socially, economically and technically sustainable projects with innovative design.
Alfredo Brillembourg and Hubert Klumpner have furthermore as professors at the Columbia University Masters Programs, with their educational project the S.L.U.M - Lab. (Sustainable Living Urban Model Laboratory) actively raised awareness among young professionals about the real issues confronting the cities in South America and elsewhere in the Global South and thus given inspiration to further endeavors in communities in Africa and the Middle East.
Both Brillembourg and Klumpner also uphold the Chair of Architecture and Urban Design at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, ETH).
Fotograf: Iwan Baan.
Metro Cable Line in Caracas, Venezuela.