International Architecture Competition

Blue Clay
Country Spa

Results

Foreword

Competition organisers

Blue Clay 
Country Spa Blue Clay 
Country Spa

The Blue Clay Country Spa competition pursues provocation of a decisive contemporary issue. The rise of sweeping urban migrations of the last quarter century coincides with a disciplinary preoccupation of architecture and the city, manifested in theory and praxis. This has all but left the vast expanse of any non-urban territory virtually uncertain. The competition invites students and professionals to contemplate the economic, cultural, and architectural implications of inhabiting the non-urban, through an ecotourist facility in Latvia.

Viable submissions interrogate the inherent tensions between subject and object, building and site, leveraging established programmatic and site constraints. Particularly successful projects engage the agency of typological form — including for instance, the courtyard, shed, garden and pavilion. This is particularly significant in a landscape unadulterated by buildings. Selected entries establish social collectivity through circulation and parti, while prescribing distinct individual and programmatic experience through space, material, and form.

 

1st Prize Winner

Project name

Blue Clay Country Spa

Authors

João Varela
Ana Isabel Santos
João Tavares
Paulo Dias

Portugal

Jury feedback summary

The first place entry for the Blue Clay Country Spa is successful in its reprogramming of a spatial archetype, the hortus conclusus, or walled garden. The primary gesture of the project is a circular promenade that unites each functional space of the spa. The wall circumscribes an interior garden and orchard, enclosing the spa with a colonnade that functions both as wall and social space. This formal armature of the circle allows each room of the spa - sauna, public bath, and guest house - to individually reflect its unique programmatic demands without detracting from the unifying identity of the project. Each space, simply detailed with native woods and exposed structure, fulfills the particular programmatic requirements of water, heat, light, privacy, and views. This circular space of ambulation marks the territory of the spa while still retaining the trace of the clearing in the forest, perpetuating the memory of Baltic vernacular architecture. With an ethos of minimal interference and simplicity, this hortus conclusus pursues a new type of ecotourism, one in which the spatial diagram of the spa enables a new environmental, cultural, and social agency. 

 

2nd Prize Winner

Project name

A House for Jānis

Authors

Graham Burn
Alex Turner
Will Fisher

Company

Whatispug ltd

United Kingdom

Jury feedback summary

The success of the second place proposal for the Blue Clay Country Spa competition lies in its strong response to the site and its playful reinterpretation of vernacular form. The project consists of a primary linear structure: a thatched roof longhouse spanning from the forest edge to the lake and rooted in the traditional Kurzeme typology typical of the region. A second linear element - a strip of productive landscape containing gardens, outdoor dining, a pool, and other ecological services - intersects the longhouse at an angle and divides the site into disparate quadrants. Within the structure, a series of whimsical follies contain the program and the remaining space is effectively open to the outdoors, creating a blurred threshold between landscape and interior. This linear parti, combined with the calculated rhythm of enclosed elements, define an interior procession from the forest to the lake, while the porosity of the structure allows for visitors to filter into the landscape. The strength of the linear strategy is further emphasized by the scale of the traditional thatched roof, forming a long opaque bar against the backdrop of trees, isolating the separated landscape spaces and creating peaceful, intimate realms while allowing permeation through the building and its inner world. 

3rd Prize Winner

Project name

Reflection in the Garden

Authors

Miroslava Brooks
Amy DeDonato

United States

Jury feedback summary

The strength of the third place entry lies in its combination of three architecture typologies, the courtyard, pavilion, and promenade, to generate a spa experience that is simultaneously containing and exposing. The project employs a circular promenade to create a defined perimeter within an expansive, rural site. The rigid perimeter is strategically broken down by the program contained within, creating a surprisingly outwardly engaging experience. The interior program of the spa is organized around a central gathering courtyard. The courtyard extends and crosses the perimeter promenade to create and define the building entry. The major circulation corridors pinwheel off from the central courtyard extending past the promenade to the landscape breaking down the program into isolated structures. Each structure contains a key programmatic element that is separated as a pavilion within a carved out courtyard. The pavilions take on distinct architectural forms defining unique spatial experiences for the programs they house. The small pavilion courts directly engage the perimeter promenade focusing the user to the exterior of the site while inviting the wanderer to simultaneously look in. The project creates a closed loop of retrospection allowing the visitor to reflect outwardly to the landscape while inhabiting each individual spa space, simultaneously reflecting back inwardly while wandering the exterior promenade.

BB STUDENT AWARD

Project name

Boxes!

Authors

Federico Rodriguez
Alejandro Lobo

University

Facultad de arquitectura diseño y urbanismo - udelar
+72 points Buildner University Rankings!

Uruguay

BB GREEN AWARD

Project name

Blue Clay Country Spa - Garden Spa

Authors

Ashley Clayton
Mangyuan Wang

United Kingdom

Honorable mentions

VIEWclose HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Project Name

Blue Brick

Company

Studio-rebus

Country

Albania

Project authors

Redman Toska
Ilirjana Bozo
Kelina Gega
Gentian Topciu

Project Name

The Blue Clay Temple

Company

Architectural bureau zotov&co

Country

Ukraine

Project authors

Viktor Zotov
Dmytro Matviishyn
Roman Slyadnev

Project Name

Wooden Cave

Country

Poland

Project authors

Lukasz Marjanski

Project Name

The Shelter of Silence

Country

Italy

Project authors

Andrea Guidi
Emiliano Diotaiuti

Project Name

Blue Clay Spa Latvia

Country

United Kingdom

Project authors

Edward Swift
Paul Maich

Project Name

From one Greenhouse to another

Country

France

Project authors

Tarabon Chloé
Millefiori Aurélien

Shortlisted projects

VIEWclose Shortlisted projects

United States

cass smith
taylor lawson

Uruguay

FADU - Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo (Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo UDELAR

+72 points Buildner University Rankings!
federico rodriguez
alejandro lobo

Italy

giulio pandolfi
clarissa guerrini
valerio cerri
matteo lorenzini

Sweden

Chalmers University of Technology, Chalmers tekniska högskola

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
regina makhmutova

Ukraine

Leks architects

anna viken
mariya banga
max leonov

Germany

jovana marinkovic
erik lippold
rafael marquez lopez

Switzerland

HEPIA Bienvenue - HES-SO Genève

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
iluta lorence
kevin schmid

Lithuania

dainius sadauskas
gintaras duoba
lina mozuraite

France

ENSAL - Ecole Nationale d'Architecture de Lyon, Ville de Lyon

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
yohann hubert
julien marie

Greece

anna tsitonaki
vasilis pliotas
xanthippi tzatha

United States

peter ballman
daria khapalova

United Kingdom

joanna day
nicholas langstaff

South Korea

yonghun lee
doo san baek
seoungyeon lee
dongin choi

Canada

Toronto Metropolitan University - TMU

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
hrishikesh tailor
bence sutus

United Kingdom

Ciarcelluti mathers architecture

daniela ciarcelluti
greg mathers
vincenza de vincenziis

Lithuania

karolina Štreimikytė
viktorija rimkutė
brolis timber

United States

riyad joucka
michael pryor

Mexico

Anonimous

alfonso jimenez enciso
elvira ireri islas vaca
barbara trujillo cuellar

Argentina

axel gerlero
maria victoria syrewicz
catalina sonzini astudillo

Australia

alexander galego
hayden wooldridge

United States

Fzad architecture + design

krunal patel
frederic zonsius

Thailand

nattaphun teerajarungkiat
aomruethai lo-apirakkul
lawit busadajun
nathaphop kriswanitthayukorn

Russian Federation

irina solovyeva
petr lyubavin

Portugal

alban wagener
katharina lutz
eduarda vieira
ines nepomuceno

Romania

Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism - UAUIM

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
petrica butusina

United Kingdom

University of Bath

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
hon yen chong
chen-yong tan

Italy

anastasia barasheva
marcella claps
francesco martone

United Kingdom

ka lok man
prachi rampuria
soham de
todor kuznetsov

Italy

francesco gatti
elsa sanfilippo
francesco lipari
giuseppe conti

Germany

lara niovi vartziotis
konstantinos goulielmos benning

United States

brett moss
jorge san martin
daniel rodriguez
jorge rodriguez

Italy

alessandro carlodalatri
francesco cavaterra

Chile

alice ferro
francisca macarena carvacho muñoz

Italy

valentino danilo matteis
consuelo camerota
teresa pagano
ubaldo soligno

United Kingdom

bruno almeida santos
mohan karakoc
peter lambertz

United States

Blank studio design + architecture

matthew trzebiatowski
samuel martin

Romania

Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism - UAUIM

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
andra-daniela racasan
andra-daniela racasan

Italy

matteo d'inca
daniele zandonella necca

Sweden

aleksandra borzecka
ida röstlund

Iran

saeid alitajer
zeinab rashidi
saeid alitajer

Italy

Nicola di pietro

nicola di pietro
mauro tonello

Portugal

Cas sustainable architecture collective

alina jeronimo
paulo carneiro

Italy

Lca architetti [luca compri architetti]

luca compri

Spain

victoria aguilar crespo
alejandro aguilar garcía

Canada

Origins

deagan mcdonald
kelsey nilsen

Bulgaria

Sova

snezhina aleksieva
pavel tsochev
zhenya atanasova
danail momchilov

Spain

Aixoplucs

david tapias
carlos gonzalvo
ricard pau

Croatia

Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Geodesy, Croatia

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
marin petković
laura ibrahić

Romania

marina cipileaga
diana chitulescu

Israel

Roy david studio

roy david
ileana cristina balan

Italy

Politecnico di Milano / Polytechnic University of Milan

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
kristina azarić
danica jovanović
 

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Competition results

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Hong Kong 
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Hong Kong Pixel Homes

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