Master planning the city through 'hand-drawn' textiles
Make Architects is launching its Architecture Drawing Prize this summer 2020, hoping that during Covid-19, architects will be spending more time sketching and fine tuning their presentation drawings. The firm is in the midst of getting organised for a July launch in the run up to the World Architecture Festival in Lisbon this December.
The Prize is curated by Sir John Soane's Museum, Make Architects and the World Architecture Festival. In the spirit of great architects of the past from Palladio and John Soane to Le Corbusier and Cedric Price, it is hoped it is an ideal platform for reflecting on the important role of drawing for the architect of today.
Architects, designers and students from around the world are invited to enter in the categories of hand-drawing, digital and hybrid. Winning and commended entries are to be displayed at the Sir John Soane's Museum in London. The winners will be flown to the World Architecture Festival to be presented with their award.
Last year Studio Anna Heringer, based in Germany, submitted a collaborative textile, 'Master plan Rudrapur', (image above) for The Architecture Drawing Prize and won the Hand Drawn category. The World Architectural festival trophy now takes pride of place in Rudrapur, a village in northern Bangladesh.
Heringer says the team of craftswomen and the local community in Rudrapur, are proud of the international recognition their work has received, and as Make says 'it challenged the jury to rethink what constitutes the nature of the lines and the tools that define the art of drawing...a hand stitched textile can be categorised as a form of draughtsmanship'.
Heringer says her vision 'is to explore and use architecture as a medium to strengthen cultural and individual confidence'. As part of this endeavour, Heringer's Studio decided to create jobs for the craftswomen of Rudrapur by setting up Dipdii Textiles.
Dipdi Textiles offers improved work opportunities and in particular for the four million people, largely women, who make their living from working with fabrics. It allows parents to work from home through a decentralised network of production that enables the sale of a range of vests, shirts, pillows, shirts and bags.