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These are the winners of the DETAIL Award 2022!

The DETAIL Award was presented for the tenth time in 2022. The award was intended to honor projects that bring architecture and life in the future into perfect harmony. Prizes were awarded to buildings that are especially characterised by well-designed, future-oriented and technically-innovative details within an outstanding overall concept. The focus of the international jury was the successful synthesis of design and construction. The international award winners were selected from submissions from 22 nations. 

© Mortiz Hoffmann Photography

DETAIL editor-in-chief Sandra Hofmeister hosted the online award ceremony, which celebrated the architecture of tomorrow.  
 
For the first time three winning projects were honored with the DETAIL Award 2022, for which the laudations were given by the jury members Peter van Assche (bureau SLA) and Špela Videčnik (OFIS arhitekti). The DETAIL Reader's Award and the DETAIL Award for Students and Schools of Architecture were presented by Sandra Hofmeister. In addition, the jury awarded "Honorable Mention" to three other outstanding projects.  
 
Another highlight of the evening was the key speech by Tatiana Bilbao (Tatiana Bilbao Estudio) with the title "Architecture as a social Care Act".  
 
Are you curious about the winning projects?  
You can find all the winners of the DETAIL Award 2022 here:  

©  Kuster Frey 

Project description

The brickworks, which is now run by the Brickworks Museum, is the only intact hand brickworks in German-speaking Switzerland. The protected ensemble includes a wooden brick drying hut, an unused kiln, the biotope of the historic clay pit, a residential house with associated garden and a museum building. The pre-stressed clay-wood structure is the world's first pre-stressed building in clay. The building material shows clay in its unfired form and demonstrates the archaic rammed earth building method in a contemporary development. The new tower allows visitors to gain an overview of the site. It allows the staff to fire bricks again with the new kiln. In addition, a room will be created to display further exhibits of the museum.

Jury statement

This project celebrates the beauty of architecture through a compelling structure made with an innovative material. Unburnt clay is a ubiquitous and climate-neutral building material. For the first time, the material has been prestressed, making it suitable for higher and also highly loaded walls. This can be seen clearly in the shape and construction of the furnace tower. The contrast between the massive wall panels and the thin prestressing elements forms a kind of monumental sculpture. The project is a good example of climate-neutral construction and a step forward in earthen architecture. The jury sees low-carbon clay as a material of the future, offering myriad possibilities for supporting structures and building envelopes. The project in Cham, Switzerland, shows the huge potential that this material brings to almost any type of building. 

©  Hertha Hurnaus

Project description

Gleis 21 is a compact low-energy house in wood-concrete hybrid construction, which is effective in terms of supporting structure through the flat partition walls and through three concrete cores. The construction of the prefabricated ceiling elements (timber-concrete composite ceiling) is also special. The cantilevered concrete slabs are flexurally rigidly connected to these with thermal separating elements and mounted on site with an anchor on the timber wall. This system was planned and executed in this way for the first time in Austria. Gleis 21 was planned as a participatory project with the involvement of future users. By sharing infrastructure and common use of spaces, high efficiency is combined with comfort for all residents of the building.

Jury statement

Given the urban housing shortage, Gleis 21 is a beacon for the future. Thanks to its community-oriented design, this exceptional residential building creates sustainable living qualities that were developed based on participatory processes. Even before the design process, Einzueins Architecture served as a facilitator of the client group’s various needs, desires, and visions. The architects also managed the entire planning, design, and construction process. Furthermore, the project in Vienna’s Sonnwendviertel addresses the balance between private and public space. Gleis 21 stands for a new, non-commercial approach to housing construction and for an architecture that shifts from building individual houses to building communities. This requires new skills and concepts and leads to unique qualities and innovative formal results. For the jury, Gleis 21 is a model for the future of housing in Europe.  

©  HG Esch 

Project description

For the over-all redesign of the building of the former “Centrum Warenhaus” department store of the GDR, built in 1979 triangular-shaped prisms were cut out on each side of the square building to flood the interior with natural light and, by this, loosen up the massive monolithic geometry of the existing building. The resulting voids redefine the building’s urban presence entirely, opening the volume up on all four sides. These canyons, as well as strategic terracing and twisting of the floors, optimize views of central Berlin. All floors have access to outdoor communal spaces for working, entertaining, and relaxing. Wrapped in high-quality glass, what was once an interior-focused shopping center has been reimagined as an outwardly focused center for productivity, creativity, and community.

Jury statement

One of today’s major challenges is how to deal with buildings from the postwar decades. Decisions still tend to favour demolition and new build. In contrast, UP! Berlin embodies a highly intelligent concept for the conversion and continued use of the existing building stock. On the one hand, the supporting structure of the former department store building was preserved. On the other hand, the incisions in the volume and the new facade draw daylight into the depths of the building, enabling its new use as office space. For the jury, UP! Berlin and the manner in which it was renovated exemplify an understanding of existing buildings as a resource for the future. 

© UC Berkeley 

Project description

GRASS BASED TECTONICS – Northern California is anticipated to have a severe increase in flooding and air pollution from wildfires rise in the next decades exacerbated by the extreme depletion of its saltmarshes. In response, we must accelerate construction materials innovation with decontamination capacities that fornent wetland recovery. This dass explores this aim through the design-built of a future biodegradable portable unit through a radically new construction system design from engineering a native California grass for synergistic air detoxification and water resistance properties. Bundled tule components in compression and tension were designed through integrated human-robotic design and fabrication to balance each other for structural stability of the membrane-shell hybrid structure. In conjunction, the class prototyped and confirmed the capacity of tule to deter wildfire smoke and provide good water uptake addressing both flooding and wildfire site challenges. lndoor air detoxification is accomplished by the biotic (rnetabolic) removal of contaminants through the tule's root system. Consequently, the class developed a radically new construction detail that enables grass-based tectonics for synergistic air contaminant removal and lightweight structural capacity through human-robotic interface strategies.

Jury statement

The jury appreciates the radical rethinking of building spaces with alternative material systems that are innovative not only technologically but also aesthetically. They embody a future material culture that is both expressive and environmentally friendly. 
The Biotic Air Unit is an innovative self-supporting structure that can also be used as an insulating enclosure. The materials used are simple, sustainable, and economical. The form follows the material – this also makes the Biotic Air Unit an excellent university project from which we can all learn.   

© Einar Aslaksen 

Project description

The Plus is Vestre’s new furniture factory, visitors center and explorable forest - a colorful manufacturing village dedicated to the cleanest, carbon-neutral fabrication of urban furniture. Made of local mass timber, low-carbon concrete, and recycled steel, it is set to become the first industrial building to achieve the highest environmental BREEAM Outstanding rating. Inside the factories, each wing has one alternating ceiling corner lifted to create inclined roofs that allow views into the production halls as well as the forest outside. From all four sides of the buildings, visitors and staff will be invited to hike around the facility and end their walk on the green roof terrace. On the rooftop, 900 photovoltaic panels are placed according to optimal solar efficiency while effective construction and materials methods, rainwater collection systems, heat and cooling systems, green roofs, electric vehicles and much else contribute to ca 90% lower energy demand than that of a conventional factory.

©  Edward Beierle

Project description

Haus Marteau in Lichtenberg, a three-storey villa from the early 20th century, impresses with its unique structure and striking silhouette in the middle of an elegant park. The park and the building were to remain unchanged as far as possible. Thus, only two framed openings reveal that the building volume of the new underground hall is completely integrated into the slope on the south side of the historic villa. A narrow sloping gallery connects the newly developed cellar with the concert hall. The cellar of the existing building was extended by 60 cm in depth. The resulting additional room height allows for a full floor. Inside this hall, huge granite chips recall the mining past of Upper Franconia. Splinters fly towards each other from the two opposite corners of a parallelogram. They explode in the middle of the room and settle on the walls as crystalline shapes. The hill of the park does not reveal the secret within its monumental interior. The view of the listed house and the park remains from all sides.

Jury statement

The Haus Marteau concert hall is an outstanding combination of strong aesthetics, a beautiful space, and excellent acoustics. The acoustic requirements are translated into the individual folds of the underground space. Their realization with granite slabs is as remarkable as the fact that the public client allowed such an expressive and innovative design to be implemented as the extension of a historic building.  

©  Steffen Spitzner

Project description

For Wilhelminian style building from 1910, which had been vacant for 30 years, the exposed Reichsformat bricks were the defining element of the renovation. The aim was to retain or reuse the building fabric as far as possible, to bring out its qualities and yet to bring the building into the present day. The saving of grey energy / CO2 was as much a guiding principle as the preservation and elaboration of the existing architectural qualities. The sustainable materials brick, oak, black steel and glass are left in their natural state, oiled or glazed, and their materiality remains tangible. The energy concept supported by solar thermal energy - together with a well-insulated building envelope - ensures an excellent energy balance that corresponds to that of a new building and achieves the KfW Effizienzhaus 100 standard.

Jury statement

The prototypical task of refurbishing the historic 19th-century building has been masterfully implemented here. With tactful and technically innovative interventions, the structure was optimized for energy efficiency and improved overall. The architects’ sensitivity and fine detailing are remarkable. Their skill is particularly evident in the exposure of the dilapidated structure’s brick walls: a radical response to the economically challenging context that imparts the building with a unique, modest beauty. 

© Marcel Kultscher

Project description

The project is located in Rigot Park in Geneva, just off Avenue de France. The choice of location in the park was prompted by an urgent and temporary measure to house 370 migrants. The project consists of two symmetrical buildings with 5 floors, made of 230 prefabricated wooden modules. Access to the flats is via an external gallery leading to a public courtyard. Through its construction method, based on the repetition of a prefabricated all-wood module, the project promotes reuse, versatility, sustainability, fast and economic construction and supports local industry.

Jury statement

The Rigot Collective Dwelling Center addresses several issues faced by architecture today. The supporting structure, including the foundations, is made entirely of timber. The building is prefabricated and modular, and can be easily assembled, disassembled, and reused elsewhere. It also offers protection to those in need of assistance. The combination and integration of all these aspects make it an exciting and unique project.  

© Steffen Spitzner

© Steffen Spitzner

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Casa Rossa Chemnitz, Deutschland  
bodensteiner fest Architekten 

Bei dem 30 Jahre lang leerstehenden Gründerzeitgebäudes von 1910 waren die freigelegten Reichsformat-Ziegel das bestimmende Element der Sanierung. Ziel war es, die Bausubstanz weitestgehend beizubehalten oder wiederzuverwenden, ihre Qualitäten herauszuarbeiten und dennoch das Gebäude in die heutige Zeit zu versetzen. Die Einsparung grauer Energie / CO2 war dabei ebenso Leitgedanke, wie das Erhalten und Herausarbeiten der vorgefundenen baukulturellen Qualitäten. Die nachhaltigen Materialien Ziegel, Eiche, Schwarzstahl und Glas sind naturbelassen, geölt oder lasiert und bleiben in ihrer Materialität spürbar. Das mit Solarthermie unterstützte Energiekonzept sorgt - gemeinsam mit einer gut gedämmten Gebäudehülle - für eine ausgezeichnete Energiebilanz, die der eines Neubaus entspricht und den Standard KfW Effizienzhaus 100 erreicht.  

© Einar Aslaksen

© Einar Aslaksen

12|

The Plus, Magnor, Norwegen
BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group 

The Plus ist die neue Möbelfabrik, das Besucherzentrum und ein erkundbarer Wald von Vestre - ein farbenfrohes Produktionsdorf, das sich der saubersten, kohlenstoffneutralen Herstellung von Stadtmöbeln widmet. Das aus lokalem Massivholz, kohlenstoffarmem Beton und recyceltem Stahl errichtete Gebäude soll das erste Industriegebäude werden, das die höchste Umweltbewertung BREEAM Outstanding erreicht. Im Inneren der Fabriken wurde in jedem Flügel eine Deckenecke angehoben, um geneigte Dächer zu schaffen, die den Blick in die Produktionshallen und auf den Wald draußen. Von allen vier Seiten der Gebäude aus werden Besucher und Mitarbeiter eingeladen, um die Anlage herumzuwandern und ihren Spaziergang auf der begrünten Dachterrasse zu beenden. Auf dem Dach sind 900 Photovoltaik-Paneele so angebracht, damit die Sonneneinstrahlung optimal genutzt werden kann, während effektive Konstruktions- und Materialmethoden, Regenwassersammelsysteme, Wärme- und Kühlsysteme, begrünte Dächer, Elektrofahrzeuge und vieles mehr dazu beitragen, dass der Energiebedarf um etwa 90 % niedriger ist als der einer herkömmlichen Fabrik.