Karolina Rorat and Ewa Maniak, students of the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology, took second place in the international competition 'Portugal Olive Guest House' and won the Buildner Student Award. The jury appreciated their project of an olive guesthouse in Portugal.
The competition was organized by the Buildner platform in cooperation with the Verde family, landowners in Portugal who produce olive oil using traditional methods. Participants were asked to design a guesthouse on one of their properties, cantered around a multi-functional space that would serve as an olive oil tasting room.
The 1st Prize went to the Italians for the project 'A-CASA'. Polish students won 2nd Prize with their project 'Olive Hearth'.
The guesthouse designed by Polish students is located on a hill overlooking the panorama of the valley below. It has the form of a 'twisted' windmill that blends into the landscape. The floor levels within the house descend with the topography to link the experience of being within the home to that of walking down the hill. The house is constructed of adobo, a typical bio-based Portuguese mudbrick which could be produced on site, and finished in a local lime plaster. The oblong table in the house flows smoothly into a countertop connected to a wood-fired stove. The house has a sunny, developed outdoor living space with common tables and benches, marked by a series of more and less intimate gardens.
‘The project demonstrates excellent organization and adopts a geometric approach that facilitates flexible usage and circulation,’ says jury member Vitório Leite, a co-founder of merooficina, Porto offices, quoted on the Buildner website.
According to another jury member, architect Ricardo Gomes, a partner at KWY.studio Portugal, 'the proposal finds the right scale, level of proximity and relation between the interior and exterior'.
In their competition entry, the Polish students emphasised that they believed that 'architecture is not only a connection between art and science but, more importantly, a way of creating architectural facts through which we can start a dialog with society'.
'For us, the role of the architect is to provide people with spaces that answer to their needs as well as with experiences that enhance their sense of identity and belonging,’ Karolina Rorat and Ewa Maniak said.
They added: ‘In our opinion, architecture competitions provide a wonderful opportunity to challenge ourselves by engaging in unconventional projects around the world. We thoroughly enjoy exploring different cultures, and architecture competitions serve as a means to do just that.’
PAP - Science in Poland
amk/ agt/ kap/
tr. RL
