höweler + yoon architecture wins AUDI urban future award 2012

boston-based höweler +yoon architects (eric höweler and meejin yoon) are the winners of the AUDI urban future award 2012, awarded top prize in the architecture competition at an awards ceremony on october 18, 2012 in istanbul. their urbanism proposal ‘boswash’ project looks to creating a system which interconnects existing modes of transportation between boston and washington to enhance inhabitants’ experience of commuting between living and work. a main component of höweler + yoon’s ‘new american dream’ focuses on the community and the reorganization and bundling of transport to a highly technical, optimized and continually flowing main artery for mobility. their aim is to create a new kind of platform, merging both individual and public means of transportation  into what they call the ‘superbundle’ to conduct more intelligent flows of traffic and networks, efficiently connecting suburbs and cities to one another forming an urban space which has the potential of accommodating and moving more than 53 million people. for their ‘holistically controlled traffic system’ the american firm have been given a cash prize of 100,000 euros. see designboom’s coverage of the five architecture firms who participated in the competition here. the AUDI urban future initiative is curated by stylepark.

documentation of the modes of transportation in the boswash area at the current time

john thackara, design theorist and chairman of the interdisciplinary jury explained the decision: ‘the jury selected as its winner the boswash project by the design team of höweler + yoon architecture. the jury concluded that this was the most thoroughly resolved response to the competition brief, and noted that it also has the potential to be realized, at least in part, within the 2030 timeframe prescribed by the competition. the jury also noted with approval that the winning entry is based on thorough research into its social and economic context; it involves both social and technical innovation at a system-wide level; and real architectural quality is evident in its execution.’

population breakdown of major cities within the boswash belt

‘(…) this type of initiative has the capacity to general real ideas that can move the discourse across disciplines:  from urbanism to architecture to automotive design. these are all environments, and part of what we would consider an expanded practice of design. it’s been a real privilege to participate in this initiative.’ – höweler + yoon architecture

round-up of the various modes of transportation and number of vehicles per type which are present within the boswash region

‘the US is home to one of the largest public infrastructure networks in the world, courtesy of the eisenhower administration. it is also aging rapidly at a time where spending for infrastructure is declining and the number of cars on the road is still rising. the imminent obsolescence of many of the highways, bridges and tunnels in this country is alarming. a transformation of these aging arteries into aggregated circulatory systems promises to rethink the relationship between different kinds of transportation, that are currently co-existing, but not really mixing. our proposal for shareway 2030 takes these sites as opportunities piggy-back a new infrastructural system on top of the existing system – without giving up on the bundle itself. this acknowledges that the highway network is already heavily subscribed, and that hybridizing infrastructures could re-invent  them to serve as housing, urban agriculture or energy production. Our crescent project capitalizes on underutilized lands adjacent to the highway.’ – höweler + yoon architecture

AUDI urban future award – höweler + yoon architecture, boswash project
video courtesy AUDI

images from the boswash project by höweler + yoon architecture presentation at the AUDI urban future award

eric höweler in the AUDI urban future award exhibition

höweler + yoon’s ‘boswash project’ was selected from four other architcture practices who were participating in the architecture competition presenting their ideas for the metropolitan regions which they call home: CRIT (mumbai, india), NODE architcture & urbanism (pearl river delta, china),  superpool (istanbul, turkey) and urban-think tank (são pualo, brazil).

rupert stadler, business executive and chairman of Audi AG at the award ceremony
image © designboom

christian gärtner, stylepark AG board member and curator of AUDI urban future award at the ceremony
image © designboom

jury member: john thackara, founder and director of the doors of perception
image © designboom

höweler + yoon architecture (HYA)
is an inter-disciplinary office active in the realm between architecture, art and landscape planning. eric höweler (born in cali, colombia) is a registered architect and assistant professor at harvard university graduate school of design. prior to the founding of HYA he was a senior designer at diller + scofidio and partner at kohn pedersen fox associates. j. meejin yoon (born in seoul) is an architect, designer and associate professor at massachusetts institute of technology.

the AUDI urban future award
is intended to make a contribution to learning how to understand more about cities of the future. the question ‘in which form will individual mobility be possible?’ can only be answered by the development of cities. in order to play an active part in shaping tomorrow’s world, AUDI has to understand significant patterns of urban planning worldwide and their relevance for future mobility.