Architecture Competition Iceland Greenhouse Restaurant 1st and Green prize winners – Derin Kinacigil and Juan Franco

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to the 1st and Green prize winners of our "Iceland Greenhouse Restaurant" competition – Derin Kinacigil and Juan Franco from United Kingdom!

Derin Kinacigil and Juan Franco from United Kingdom

Derin Kinacigil is a British Architect, educated in the United Kingdom and has previously worked for some renowned architecture firms in London, and Sydney.

Juan Franco is a Spanish architect who previously studied and worked in Madrid. Both Derin and Juan currently live in Tokyo, Japan and work for the same architecture company.

Brief information about the projects that you/your company have been involved with. For instance, what scale have you focused on/preferred, any significant projects where the company/ individuals have been involved?

Both Derin and Juan have been privileged to work together on a number of international projects. These projects cover a range of scales, from master planning to high end residential and commercial developments.

What does architecture mean to you and what is the role of an architect in your society?

Architecture is a unique discipline which looks to answer human functional, and societal challenges in an artistic and contextually responsive way. We believe that great architecture should be sculpted by its surrounding, and only then will the design truly answer its purpose. Like most things in life balance is key, and architecture design is no different. A new project should react to all the bumps and bruises of its surrounding, taking inspiration when needed, and new innovation when required.

Why do you participate in architecture competitions?

Architecture competitions provide a unique platform to design and propose exciting innovative project, while testing theoretical ideas in a structured setting. Apart form any constraints imposed by the brief, competitions like this one, allow complete freedom to express new design styles, and typologies. The great thing also about participating in a competition is that if you are lucky enough to win, the client has already bought into your vision, therefore the next stage would be working together with the client to realize the design.

What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to decide whether it would be beneficial for them to participate in architecture competitions?

Taking part in a competition is a great way to challenge all that you have learnt and researched on an international level. Competitions such as this are anonymous, therefore such projects are solely judged on design talent, which means that you may have the winning ticket if you put the focus and belief into your work.