BNA Cube 2008 Award, Netherlands

Cepezed are the recipients of the illustrious Kubus
The Royal Institute of Dutch Arhcitects has granted its highest honour to cepezed for its complete body of work.

The extraordinary qualities of cepezed's architecture and work methods have been unanimously praised by the jury who underlined the practice’s professional skills and consistent quality of work. The panel of adjudicators emphasized that cepezed never deploy the technical and innovative approach for which they are known solely for the sake of technique and innovation itself, but always for the benefit of high architectural quality. cepezed do not distinguish architecture from construction but employ integral design methods that have brought the practice an enormous know-how and competence in fields such as the organization of the construction process, innovation and the development of construction components; all exerted for the purpose of architectural excellence. In cepezed’s words:” Success has many fathers, particularly in an industry like construction, which is so knowledge-labour- and capital-intensive and in which so many parties are involved, joining forces is an absolute must.” In the domain of sustainability they intensely collaborate with consultants from different subject fields, ranging from stability consultants to construction physicists and from climate professionals to lighting specialists. In order to further develop and test specifically designed construction elements, cepezed team up with producing industries both in and outside the field of construction: this has repeatedly resulted in innovative solutions which by now are widely applied in contemporary architecture.

Following the motto:” Architecture that does not think about its future has no future.” the Delft based practice founded in 1973 has become a synonym of sustainability, efficient execution techniques, technological progression coupled with sober and stylish open and human architecture . Some of their distinguished latest projects include the extension and renovation of the Audax Textile Museum in Tilburg and the intricate and large-scale combination of new and existing construction for various sections of the Dutch Department of Public Works for the Westraven office complex in Utrecht. Associated architects of cepezed are Jan Pesman, Michiel Cohen and Ronald Schleurholts.

BNA Kubus Award has been presented yearly since 1965 and is the highest decoration of the institute and arguably the most prestigious Dutch architecture prize. Last years’ Kubus was awarded to Office for Metropolitan Architecture.

Laura Salmi
source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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