Bartlett Environmental Design Prize 2024: 'Engraved Cycles' by Jeff Qu Liu
Bartlett Environmental Design Prize 2014: 'Redefining The Alpine Ski Empire' by Daniel Lane
Members of the Max Fordham team have been tutoring at UCL Bartlett School of Architecture for many years. We’ve established a great relationship with the University over that time and we formally recognised that relationship in 2013 by sponsoring an award at the annual student Summer Show.
The Max Fordham Environmental Design Prize is given to the 5th-year design project that demonstrates the greatest level of ambition, originality, technical innovation and philosophical rigour in the field of environmental design and sustainability.
The prize consists of £1,000 to help the student cover project-related expenses. In addition, they present their project to our whole practice and receive ideas from our engineers and sustainability consultants to help them further develop the environmental premise of their project.
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The winner of Bartlett Environmental Design Prize 2014 is 'Redefining The Alpine Ski Empire': Daniel Lane.
Daniel Lane’s award-winning project considers the vulnerable future of Swiss ski resorts given the effects of climate change. In an ever-warming world the ski industry has either ventured higher up the mountains or employed artificial snow-making technology that’s neither economically nor environmentally sustainable. Lower-altitude resorts, often situated close to urban centres than their more lofty counterparts, are the most vulnerable.
The project proposes to bring the pistes to Old Bern by creating a seasonally deployable, artificial mountain snowscape over the city. Danny explores the ‘hows and whys’ of various passive and active environmental technologies required to create, sustain and deconstruct the ‘Artificial Cryosphere of Old Bern’. Ideas include:
- dripping water around steel frameworks to create structural towers of ice
- articulated, deployable, super-sized snow-covered canopies to form mountain sides
- manipulating wind flow to enhance snow formation
- giant airship-like balloons that shield the slopes from too much sun, collect rainwater and house Venturi nozzle passive snow cannons
Don’t forget to pack your sunglasses.
Further information can be found at Danny’s blog
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Old Bern Mountain Paradise. An engineered ski resort is fused into a historic city. Featuring snow creation towers, snow insulation pillows, solar shading balloons and huge culverts to remove melted snow.
©Daniel Lane
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Passive snow-cannon. Like the nozzle of a spray can, airflow is accelerated as wind blows through the aperture. Combined with injected water droplets this creates conditions adequate for snow creation, at temperatures higher than those needed for natural snow formation.
© Daniel Lane
