In Chania, Greece, on September 4th, 2007, the EAAE Prize 2005-2007 for writings in Architectural Education, sponsored by VELUX, was awarded for the 9th time. The competition sets a base for a discussion on the content and direction of architectural education. This year's theme, representation in architecture, has resulted in a number of interesting essays on how new methods of representation impacts contemporary architecture.

The 1st prize was awarded to Architecture Associate Professor Mari Hvattum from the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. In her prize-winning essay "Veiled works and blurred contexts", Mari Hvattum reflects on some of the paradoxes characterising architecture's recent past, and inquires into its ends, means and modes of representation.

"The jury considers this a mature and intelligent reflection, which contains a compelling criticism on the culture of "mapping". The opening image is very strong and the line of argumentation is well-developed, showing a historical awareness which is commendable," the jury commented. The jury was chaired by Hilde Heynen (B) working together with jury members Ole Bouman (NL), Paola Vigano (F), Allen Cunningham (UK) and Leen Van Duin (NL).

Mari Hvattum was educated as an architect from the University of Trondheim (NTNU) with further specialisations in architectural history and theory from Cambridge University. She works primarily on modern architectural thinking and historiography, and has taught at Architectural Association, London, Central European University, Praha, Edinburgh University, and University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.

The 2nd prize in the competition was shared by Graeme Brooker and Dr Eric Northey from Manchester School of Architecture in the United Kingdom and Emre Altürk from TU Delft, Faculty of Architecture in the Netherlands. The 1st prize winner was awarded with 10,000 while the two 2nd prize winners were awarded 5,000 each.

The EAAE Prize is organised biannually and the aim is to stimulate new pedagogical initiatives -and to communicate these initiatives as related to the broad scope of teaching and research. The prize is also a platform for exchange of knowledge and cooperation about educational issues across national borders. The EAAE Prize was first awarded in 1991 and has been sponsored by VELUX since 2001.

"VELUX wishes to establish contact with the teachers of the future generations of architects. We would like to follow the activities of the schools and learn from that. Innovative thinking, experimentation and discussion is needed for all professional activities within the built environment - for the construction industry and producers like ourselves as well as for the architectural profession.

Today's society calls for new approaches - how to handle new technologies - and how to collaborate. In that respect, the education of tomorrow's architects is extremely important as the teachers shape and influence the architects - and hereby the architecture - of the future," says Head of Communications Lone Ellersgaard from VELUX.

33 essays from teachers of architecture in 13 countries were submitted to the competition. Ten papers were then selected and rewritten in answer to the jury's feedback. The authors were given one month to improve the papers, and thereafter the jury selected the prize winners from the re-submitted, re-written papers.

The winning essays will be published on EAAE's website at www.eaae.be and in a theme issue of The Journal of Architecture.

About the EAAE Prize 2005-2007
The EAAE Prize aims to stimulate original writings of architectural education in order to improve the quality of architectural teaching in Europe. Organised biennually, the competition will focus public attention on outstanding written works selected by an international jury.

The Prize was first awarded in 1991 and has been sponsored by VELUX since 2001. The EAAE Prize is open to all teaching staff members, part- or full-time, of the EAAE member schools as well as individual members from other schools of architecture in Europe, and members of ARCC and ACSA schools in the USA.

The EAAE Prize 2005-2007 was organized by:
EAAE Project Leader Ebbe Harder and staff,
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture