Architecture Competition Iceland Lake Myvatn Community House 2nd prize winners – Aleksa Milojevic, Ka Wai Cheung and Konstantin Kim

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to the 2nd prize winners of our "Iceland Lake Myvatn Community House" competition – Aleksa Milojevic, Ka Wai Cheung and Konstantin Kim from Austria!

Aleksa Milojevic, Ka Wai Cheung and Konstantin Kim from Austria

Half-Circus is an award-winning creative collective performing in the fields of architecture and film, co-founded by Ka Wai Cheung, Konstantin Kim, and Aleksa Milojevic in 2020. The practice is fluidly-based internationally but can trace its roots back to Vienna, where all three conducted their Master’s studies together under Kazuyo Sejima.

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?

The overarching theme of our work is in the realm of public space for smaller communities. One of our most recent projects is a competition won for a pavilionhouse in rural Senegal designed to offer a flexible, safe, and hygienic environment for women and children of two neighboring villages to gather, work, and practice self-empowerment. The usage of earth mounds as the main tectonic of the project not only reflects locally-sourced materials but also invites community participation in the construction and maintenance of the architecture.

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

Architecture, when actively used as a place-making tool, can yield changes in societies. In our work we often dedicate a majority of time establishing a thorough understanding of a community, and identifying meticulously alternative narratives of social and environmental interactions for the people.

Why do you participate in architecture competitions?

There are not many options for a beginning architecture studio without substantial capital to gain access to built projects. Competitions help to make that more possible. So, the answer might be because we believe in our work and, for now, we have enough resources to try.

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

There is no “true” linear path in developing yourself as a professional or your practice. For us competitions have been a good way to understand, test and re-test our own values and sensibilities in design as a young collective. A far more disappointing position would have been to expect winning on every entry.