Marcin Szczelina, editor-in-chief of the “Architecture Snob” magazine became a juror of the Simon Architecture Prize 2022. He is the first Pole ever to join the jury panel for this prestigious award.

 

The Simon Architecture Prize is an award aiming at recognizing projects that improve the quality of life of the residents. The awarded buildings are high-quality places to work, study or play – an architecture to be lived in. The Simon Architecture Prize is awarded in two categories: Collective Places and Personal Places. This division draws attention to the perspective of the user of architecture and their experience of living in it. For this reason, the application process for the award involves the residents of the competing building. The founders of the Simon Architecture Prize are not interested in architecture frozen in photography, but they focus on a living, functioning building.

 

The prize has been awarded once every two years since 2016 and is claimed to be one of the most prestigious prizes in the world of architecture. In previous years, the jury has included Frida Escobedo, one of the world’s most talented architects who is currently designing a new gallery for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and Anupama Kundoo, one of the leading architects focusing on social and environmental justice in architecture.

 

 

Marcin Szczelina joins the prestigious jury as the first person from Poland. – This is a great honour for me as the Simon Architecture Prize is currently the most interesting architecture award in the world. The projects are judged primarily from the perspective of users, which is why priority is given to spaces that are user-friendly and provide comfort. In addition to the cash prize, the winners and finalists will receive a trophy designed by Catalonian designer Andreu Carulla – says Marcin Szczelina, editor-in-chief of the “Architecture Snob” magazine.

 

Among the previous edition winners we can find: Lacaton & Vassal for their project of modernising three social housing blocks in the Grand Parc district of Bordeaux, or Unparelld’arquitectes for their project Can Sau. Emergency Scenery in the town of Olot. 

 

Marcin Szczelina is a curator and architecture critic, founder and editor-in-chief of the website and magazine “Architecture Snob”. Since 2014, he has been an expert for the European Mies van der Rohe Award. Szczelina is also an expert of the Climate Leadership Programme under the auspices of the UN Environment Programme and an ambassador of the Lafarge Holcim Award, an international competition promoting sustainable construction.

 

The Simon Architecture Prize 2022 will start soon. Find more information on the website: https://www.simonprize.org/