Architecture Competition Yoga House On A Cliff 3rd prize winners – Amanda Dolgā and 
Cheung Lun Jeremy Son

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to the 3rd prize winners of our “Yoga House On A Cliff” competition – Amanda Dolgā and 
Cheung Lun Jeremy Son from United Kingdom!

Cheung Lun Jeremy Son and Amanda Dolgā from United Kingdom

Amanda grew up in Riga, Latvia and moved to London five years ago to study architecture at UCL. After finishing her undergraduate studies, she joined a London-based architecture practice. Currently, she is continuing her MA Architecture studies at the Royal College of Art.
Jeremy was born and raised in Hong Kong, currently based in Brooklyn, New York. After completing his Bachelor of Architecture at The Cooper Union Advancement of Science and Art, he joined Allied Works Architecture. 
The duo discovered their common ground in exploring the complementary elements in the archaic and contemporary. Connected by their shared preferences in music, the duo is searching for the poetics of space within mundane rituals. 

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? 

This is our first design collaboration on a competition, signifying a new beginning for both of us. 

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

Architecture is a practice that offers the potential and carries the responsibility of positive transformations for communities. We believe a certain extent of spatial generosity and ambiguity in design can give way to exciting and unexpected forms of spatial inhabitation and appropriation. It is crucial that architects, as spatial practitioners, address the built environment as part of the totality of the existing built environment and ecological systems, starting from the ecology of materials and accommodating the everyday uses of future users. 
We treat the built environment as an emotional condition and value the spirituality embedded within. Engaging with the powerful web of emotions and memories, the ambition is to create architecture that elevates one's attentiveness to the immediate surrounding of being.

Why do you participate in architecture competitions?

The participation in architecture competitions gives us the opportunity to share our voice in architecture through drawings and design, hoping to resonate with a certain audience. It is also an engaging way to maintain the excitement, creative freedom, and professional motivation for the development of individual extracurricular design projects and collaborations.

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

In a time of global crisis, when the architecture profession struggles to justify its importance in the design, construction, and delivery of the built environment, we have the opportunity to reconsider our role as spatial practitioners to find new, challenging, and more considerate design solutions that provide accessible and conscious spaces that have a positive contribution to the totality of our planet’s ecology and infrastructural systems.