Umut Türkmen wins Iktinos Prize 2016!

On Friday 26 August, Umut Türkmen received the Iktinos Prize 2016 at the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture. In the past academic year, 17 nominations out of over 200 projects were nominated and presented to the jury. Umut was nominated no less than two times and was awarded a 1st and 3rd place. Besides the fantastic victory and top 3 placement of both projects, it is also a special achievement that a student wins this prize so soon after the start of his studies at the Rotterdam Academy.

The award ceremony took place during the opening of the academic year and was the official opening of the Iktinos exhibition. The Iktinos exhibition presents all projects nominated for the Iktinos Prize in the past academic year. Umut won the Iktinos Prize for his project 'The Imported Towerhouses'.

The semester studio in the context of which Umut won this award, focuses on 'The London Mansion', a phenomenon in England's domestic architecture, not only because of its institutional and educational qualities, but also and especially because of its unique architectural manifestation. In his project, Umut defines 'The London Mansion' as an imported product and introduces the phenomenon of the Yemen tower houses in London as a response to recent developments in housing and high land prices in the city. In his project, he develops the formal separation of the plot form and housing typology in such a way that something new is created. “Not only a beautiful plan, be it sometimes a little merciless at first glance, but also an imaginable prototype for other locations”.

The Imported Towerhouses project is appreciated because of its “telling maturity, which is extremely admirable for a project so early on in the course of studies”. According to the jury, “the plan shimmers with poetic imagination which, perhaps even more so than the convincing architectural articulation, the good floor plans, the powerful spatial solutions, the intelligent handling of the outdoor space and the consistency of the plan, determines the persuasiveness and current relevance of this project”.

The Iktinos Prize was established in 1969 by architect Huig Maaskant, co-founder of the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture. The prize is awarded each year to students who make a (cultural) contribution to the education, research and practice of architecture or urban planning through the quality and characteristics of their study results.