The Lisbon Architecture Triennale announced as the winner of the fourth edition of the Début Award the São Paulo office Vão, formed by Anna Juni, Enk te Winkel and Gustavo Delonero. The office is known for a transdisciplinary practice that seeks to dilute the boundaries of the professional field in order to enhance architectural reflection. In previous editions, the award recognized the work of Bonell+Dòriga (Spain, 2019), Umwelt (Chile, 2016) and Jimenez Lai, from Bureau Spectacular (USA, 2013).
The announcement was made on September 30, during the opening festivities of the Triennale, which in this edition awarded the Career Award to the architect, researcher and teacher Marina Tabassum from Bangladesh, the first person from the global south to receive the honor. Marina joins American Denise Scott-Brown (2019 award winner), French duo Lacaton & Vassal (2016), British Kenneth Frampton (2013), Portuguese Álvaro Siza (2010) and Italian Vittorio Gregotti (2007).
Founded in 2013 in the city of São Paulo, the young office focuses on the design practice of architecture, urbanism and also the visual arts, with the influence of music, theater and urban daily life, transferring these experiences to their projects at different scales, demands and contexts. In its portfolio, it has projects such as the Headquarters for a Block Factory, São José do Barreiro House and Ownerless House nº 01.
The list of finalists included: Atelier Tiago Antero – ATA (Portugal), Atelier Tropical – Valerie Mavoungou (Congo), Ben-Avid (Argentina), messina | rivas (Brazil), Nana Zaalishvili (Georgia), Rohan Chavan (India), Savinova Valeria (Russia), Spatial Anatomy (Singapore), vão (Brazil) and Vertebral (Mexico).
The Début Award took place in two distinct phases. First, a call was opened to all professionals interested in applying. At the same time, a few dozen relevant personalities in the world of architecture were invited by the Triennale to nominate who they thought deserved this distinction. Finally, the set of proposals is made available to the jury, which selects the list of finalists and the winning practice.
The jury for this edition was composed by Cristina Veríssimo (Portugal), Diogo Burnay (Portugal), N’Goné Fall (Senegal), Yael Reisner (Israel) and Zhang Ke (China).
Learn more about Vão's work in the interview we did with them in 2020.
