AIV Schinkel competition 2023 decided

How can the route of the former A 104 between the A 100 and A 103 be transformed? This was the question facing the young participants in the AIV Schinkel competition. The Architects’ and Engineers’ Association of Berlin-Brandenburg (AIV) has now honored the winners of the “Stadt statt A 104” competition.

As every year, the 2023 Schinkel Competition was held in different categories. All participants were asked to find an approach to the A 104, once a prime example of car-friendly urban planning. In the end, over 100 entries were received from young planners. Of all the entries, 13 were awarded prizes in March of this year. The solution approaches were just as diverse as the participants, as the organizers emphasize: “We were very pleased that several international entries were among the award-winning works this year.”

The Schinkel Prize for Architecture 2023 went to Aneliya Kavrakova, Mary Lee, Sue Yen Chong and Dienu Amriza Prihartadi – four students from the University of Edinburgh. For their contribution, they not only received the prize money, but also a travel grant from the Hans-Joachim Pysall Foundation. In their contribution Berlin ́s Urban Bio-Loop, they developed a modular system with different typologies that can be added to the existing building stock according to the situation and requirements. The jury praised the work as particularly imaginative, as it enables a wide variety of uses in the urban space. The four students from Scotland contrasted the large-scale existing buildings with a variety of small structures, which ultimately won over the jury.

In the urban design category, however, the Quartier 104 project by Stella Motz and Julius Rymarcewicz from the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg was the winner. They interpreted the elevated route of the A 104 as a new route for bicycle traffic. An arcade with new uses at first floor level is being created underneath. The two students added different forms of living and working to the broken up block edge of the surrounding area.

According to the jury, the entry from the landscape architecture category was also the subject of particularly lively discussion. Isabella Bönke, Laura Jacobsen and Linda Kühnel, three students from TU Berlin, submitted the design entitled AufKläranlage. They developed the A 104 as part of a “cooling ring” for the Berlin urban area. Located near Breitenbachplatz, the treatment plant is intended to raise awareness of the issue of (waste) water management in the city. This is because 150 million liters of wastewater are produced every year on the Schlangenbader Straße freeway superstructure alone. With the help of a constructed wetland on the preserved bridge structure of the A 104 and design interventions in the urban spaces around the bridge structure, they succeeded in combining technical functionality with high-quality living spaces.

Antonia Heesen, Charlotte Vetter, Elaine Braunholz and Janek Brinkschröder from the University of Kassel won in the fine arts category with their project In memory of the A 104. Using a film and other elements, the authors of the design staged a fictitious memorial service for the failed urban utopia of the highway with a residential superstructure. According to the jury, the examination of the former hopes and the reality of road construction that has come true stood out from the other works submitted.

In addition to promoting young talent, the AIV Schinkel competition aims to open up an annual dialog between the urban public, experts, administration and politics. All award-winning works were on display at the University of the Arts from March 13 to 26. They can also be viewed on the official website on an ongoing basis.

Last year, the AIV Schinkel competition looked for solutions for the town of Rüdersdorf. Find out more here.