Through grounding, designers come to terms with complex material realities, sociocultural contingencies, and more fundamental ways of being. Although grounding suggests locality, contemporary environments are invariably embedded in global systems that complicate architecture’s relationship with place. Grounding thus means, on one hand, making vital connections to what is already there—materially, socially, and otherwise—and, on the other, contending with placeless, pervasive processes. Navigating the remote and embodied, the nonlocal and local, architecture requires methods of retooling, reappropriation, and transformation to find its grounding. How do young architects tether their work and practices to the grounds upon which they design? How can designers respond to both the particularities of location and the ubiquity of global forces? What are intentional approaches to and forms of grounding?
The theme was developed by the 2022 Young Architects + Designers Committee, which included recent League Prize winners Luis Beltrán del Río García, Tei Carpenter, and Gabriel Cuéllar.
The jury included the committee in addition to Chris T. Cornelius, Carla Juaçaba, Lola Sheppard, and Mabel O. Wilson.
The competition is organized by The Architectural League’s program director Anne Rieselbach and program manager Rafi Lehmann.
DIGITAL EXHIBITION AND ONLINE LECTURE SERIES
This year’s League Prize programming and exhibition will follow a hybrid onsite and online model.
Digital Exhibition
Winners will create installations of their work onsite in a location of their choice or in an entirely digital format, all of which will be presented in an online exhibition on archleague.org opening June 14.
Online Lecture Series
The lecture series will be held on Wednesday evenings starting June 15 on Zoom. Each evening will consist of an introduction, lectures by two winning firms, and a moderated Q&A.
Lectures begin at 6:30 p.m. EDT. Admission is free and advance registration via Zoom is required.
6/15/2022
Citygroup
Nathan Friedman and Francisco Quiñones | Departamento del Distrito
Moderated by Gabriel Cuéllar
6/22/2022
Isaac Stein and Maggie Tsang | Dept.
Jose Amozurrutia and Carlos Facio | TO
Moderated by Luis Beltrán del Río García
6/29/2022
Farzin Lotfi-Jam | Farzin Farzin
Xavi Laida Aguirre | stock-a-studio
Moderated by Tei Carpenter
Graphic identity by Pentagram.
Support
The Architectural League Prize is made possible by Tischler und Sohn, Delta Millworks, and Judlowe.