ACE NEWS

• ACE-BAK events during the EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) - Architecture: Towards a Step Change in Building Performance.

In the framework of the EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW), ACE and the Federal Chamber of German Architects (BAK) organised on Thursday 22 June in Brussels two public events on the theme Architecture: Towards a Step Change in Building Performance. In the context of the on-going revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), the objective was to share feedback from architectural projects that have successfully overcome the challenges of achieving healthy, comfortable and productive environments at measurably low energy and resource consumption. Both events have enabled a debate to shed light on the architectural determinants of building performance and the imperative to consider building performance in a broader and more holistic perspective. Read more

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• Clean Energy Package – Revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).

Following the publication of the Clean Energy Package in November 2016, the co-legislators are currently reviewing the Commission’s proposals. On the European Parliament side, the draft report of the Rapporteur (Bendt Bendtsen) was released end of April. Following a first exchange of views in the ITRE committee on 29 May, all political groups have tabled amendments, that will be discussed on 10 July. The final vote in the ITRE committee is expected in September, before a vote in plenary sitting in November. On the Council side, Energy Ministers agreed on 26 June on a general approach for the revision of the EPBD. Negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council to find a common position in first reading should start in the second half of the year, under the Estonian presidency. Read more

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• Services Package: on-going discussion in the European Parliament and Council.

Following the publication of the Services Package in January 2017, the EU Parliament and Council have started reviewing the proposals and recommendations put forward by the EU Commission, namely:

• a Proposal for a Directive on a Proportionality Test;
• a Proposals for a Regulation and a Directive introducing a European Services e-Card;
• a Proposal for a Directive on the enforcement of the notification procedure;
• a Communication on reform recommendations for regulation in professional services.

Read more

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• Grenfell Tower Fire – ACE recalls the huge responsibility that architects and building professionals have to society.

The ACE expresses its deepest sympathy for the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire in London and deplores this disaster which could almost certainly have been avoided. "This incident underlines the huge responsibility architects - and all professionals involved in the building industry - have to society” says Luciano Lazzari, ACE President. Read more

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• 2016 ACE Annual Report & 2017 Outlook.

In May, ACE released its 2016 Annual Report 2016 & Outlook 2017. The publication presents the main ACE achievements in its three strategic priorities (Advancing the higher Professional Standards; Optimising Professional Mobility; Promoting Responsible Architecture) and in the areas of Communication and European Projects. Download the ACE Annual Report on the ACE website. 

Read more

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• ACE-EAAE-CNAPPC Symposium “Education and Practice – The Future Architect”, 6 May, Rome.

On 6 May, ACE, the European Association for Architectural Education (EAAE) and CNAPPC organised a Symposium in Rome dedicated to the relationship of architectural education and practice: How do we educate our young professionals and for what do we prepare them? Read more

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• ACE is proud to announce the start of the CONNECT ARCH project, co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme.

In the autumn of 2016, ACE submitted a bid in response to a call for proposals from the Creative Europe Programme, the EU Commission’s financing instrument that supports Europe’s cultural and creative sectors. The European Networks sub-programme is designed to help the cultural and creative sectors to operate transnationally and to strengthen their competiveness, notably by providing professionals with specific skills and experience and to enable them to expand their careers in Europe and beyond. Read more

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EU NEWS

• Level(s): a common language for sustainable buildings.

To improve sustainability and drive market demand for better buildings, a new open source assessment framework called Level(s), has been developed by the EU Commission in close collaboration with stakeholders, including the Architects’ Council of Europe. Level(s) is a voluntary reporting framework that builds upon existing standards to provide a common EU approach to the environmental performance assessment of buildings. Read more

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• European Semester 2017 Spring Package: Commission issues country-specific recommendations.

On 22 May, the EU Commission presented its 2017 country-specific recommendations (CSRs), setting out its economic policy guidance for individual Member States for the next 12 to 18 months. CSRs for all Member States are available on the Commission website. Read more

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• Winner of 2017 EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award. 

On 12 May, the EU Commission and the Mies van der Rohe Foundation announced the winner of the 2017 EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture. The prize will be given to the innovative renovation of Kleiburg, a 1960s apartment building in Amsterdam, by NL Architects and XVW architectuur. Read more

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MEMBERS NEWS

Slovenian Chamber of Architecture and Planning (ZAPS):

• After almost 4 years long process of negotiations, Slovenian government approved proposals of the 3 for architectural profession most important laws: Planning Law, Building Law and Professional regulation Law and submit them to the Parliament for the adoption. 
• Arch. Aleš Prijon is the president of ZAPS from 9th of May 2017.

Architects Association of Lithuania

On 12th of May 2017 Arch. Ruta Leitanaite was elected as the new President of Architects Association of Lithuania (AAL).

The AAL Board members is composed by: Saulius Pamerneckis, Rokas Kilciauskas, Laimonas Bogusas, Gintaras Prikockis, Gintautas Blaziūnas, Edgaras Neniskis, Daiva Gasiuniene, Aurimas Sasnauskas, Juozas Vaskevicius, Linas Naujokaitis, Asta Kiauniene, Vaidotas Dapkevicius, Ruta Stuopeliene, Arvydas Narkevicius, Saulius Danius.

The Latvian Architecture Award 2017

The Latvian Architecture Award is the main annual architectural competition in Latvia organised by Latvian Architects Union. This year the prize was given for the 22nd time at a magnificent ceremony during Architecture Week when lectures, film shows and exhibitions on architecture were held in the Latvian capital, Riga.

The guest of honour was Japanese architect Kengo Kuma who gave a public lecture and participated in Awards Ceremony.

The winners from 18 nominees were chosen by an International jury. Members of this year’s International jury were founder of Atelier Bow-Wow, Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, partner at Henning Larsen Architects’ Jacob Kurek, architect and theorist Tomas Grunskis and founder of the office SALTO Maarja Kask. The Grand Prix went to Shaolin Flying Monks theatre in China designed by architect Austris Mailītis.

The international jury explained its decision: "This inspiring art, architecture and landscape project which works beyond borders and countries, connecting different cultures, traditions and technologies into a beautiful fairytale is created by a devoted and visionary mindset." The international jury also rewarded the restoration of the Great Synagogue in the Latvian town of Ludza, done by architect Pēteris Blūms and design of exhibition Book in Latvia designed by architect office GAISS and graphic designers from Associates, Partners et Sons.

A special mention from the International jury went to The Baltic Pavilion at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice Biennale curated by a team of young architects from all three Baltic Countries - Kārlis Bērziņš, Jurga Daubaraitė, Petras Išora, Ona Lozuraitytė, Niklāvs Paegle, Dagnija Smilga, Johan Tali, Laila Zariņa, Jonas Žukauskas.

More information: http://www.latarh.lv/laa/about/

Croatian Chamber of Architects (CCA)

The VIIIth Green Day of the Croatian Chamber of Architects took place on 9 May 2017 in the framework of the Zagreb Energy Week. This year the conference hosted 300 participants and 15 renowned lecturers discussing about innovations in the sustainable construction domain. Read here the conclusions. 

The Days of Architects 1.0 were held in Rovinj from 11 to 13 May 2017. The programme included 30 lectures and six roundtables and the conference was attended by 500 participants, mostly architects, as well as engineers , representatives of private companies and local government representatives. ACE President Luciano Lazzari attended the conference and presented the ACE Sector Study 2016.

Moreover, during the event it took place the 1st edition of the CCA annual awards "Medal for Architecture and Medal for Conceptual Project ».

CCA would like to thanks all participants, patrons, sponsors and associates without whom Days' realization would not have been possible. Read here the conclusion. 

Bundesarchitektenkammer (BAK)

Save-the-date: BAK-Seminar on European issues/services package of the European Commission on 13 September in Berlin

On 13 September 2017, the Federal Chamber of German Architects (BAK) is organising a seminar on European issues in the Representation of the European Commission in Berlin.

In the light of the on-going discussion on the European Commission´s proposals for a Services package as part of the internal market strategy, it is important to highlight the legislative process in the Council and European Parliament. Information on the Council work groups is especially difficult to obtain. Therefore, the BAK intends to inform and exchange views on the work of the Council in the legislative process through the example of the proposals of the services package.

It is also expected to discuss the role of the representation of interests of the architectural profession and a possible optimisation of the communication methods. Panelists include delegates of the European Commission, the Council and professional organisations.

Please get in touch with the BAK Office in Brussels (info@bruessel.bak.de) if you are interested in this event.

Czech Chamber of Architects

The 24th General Assembly of the Czech Chamber of Architects was held in April 2017. The main topics of the discussion were modification of competition code, internal rules of procedure and membership fees. Last but not least the election of the new members of Executive board, Supervisory board and Estates court took place on General Assembly. New composition of the Executive board elected Ing. arch. Ivan Plicka to be the president of the Czech Chamber of Architects. The Czech Republic has decided to apply its possibility to nominate candidate to the Executive board of the ACE based on the rotation nomination.

The Nomination evening of Czech Architecture Award 2017 was held in June, where the 42 nominated realization was announced. The finalists and main prize will be announced on 27th November 2017. All nominated realization are published on websites of the Award (https://ceskacenazaarchitekturu.cz/projekty/2017/?nominace=1).

Architects’ Chamber of Lithuania (ACL)

Important Changes in the Field of Architecture in Lithuania

2017 is the year of fundamental changes in Lithuanian architecture. Considering an especially sore situation in the field, Lithuanian government adopted several important legal regulation solutions, including the establishment of the mandatory membership for certified architects at their professional self-governance institutions (Architects’ Chamber of Lithuania, ACL) and the adoption of the new Law of Architecture. The Law of Architecture expresses the significance of architecture, qualification requirements for architects as well as their responsibility, major architectural quality criteria, as well as architectural quality assurance measures (architectural competitions, regional expert councils, etc.). This law has expanded the functions of the ACL and is also related to another fundamental development — the establishment of architects' professional self-governance. Although ACL has been operating since 2006, the membership was not mandatory before, thus resulting in only a little more than 10 % of the certified architects who took part in its activity. This flawed situation was rectified with amendments to the Law of Architecture and introducing the mandatory membership for all certified architects. This major change was followed by extraordinary general elections, which substantially renewed the entire ACL structure with new members elected for the Council, the Council of Professional Ethics, the Certification Committee, and other ACL organs. Mrs. Daiva Bakšienė, elected as the ACL President in 2016, was re-elected and will continue to run her office. Making its first steps on the way of full-fledged professional self-governance, the Chamber of Lithuanian Architects will be very thankful for any advice, good experience and support from all ACE members.

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EU PROJECTS

ACE is currently involved in four EU-funded projects. The iNSPiRe project, funded under the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) was successfully completed at the end of September. The FP7 project A2PBEER, the ERASMUS+ project in co-operation with EAAE (European Association of Architectural Education) and the Horizon 2020 (H2020) project PROF/TRAC continue. Furthermore a new H2020 project on the market up-take of energy efficiency through significant energy and architectural transformation with new volume additions, called ABRACADABRA, started in March.

All projects address issues related to sustainability, climate change, resource efficiency and building renovation. The projects develop, for instance, innovative materials and technologies, CPD training and better architectural education, business models to finance energy retrofits and position papers. Through these ACE seeks to promote the architects’ role in energy efficient construction and urban regeneration, to influence cutting edge research and make it more applicable for European architects.

Read the projects' news

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PUBLICATIONS

• 2017 European Semester - Country-specific recommendations
• European Construction Sector Observatory - 28 Country Fact Sheets and 33 Policy Measures Fact Sheets are now online 
• ACE 2016 Annual Report & 2017 Outlook
• ACE-EAAE Symposium EDUCATION and PRACTICE: THE FUTURE ARCHITECT – Videos and presentations

 

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AWARDS

On 9 April 2017 the Barbara Cappochin Foundation and the Italian National Council of Architects, Planners, Landscapers and Conservationists (CNAPPC) launched the 2017 edition of the Barbara Cappochin Prize, founded in remembrance of architecture student Barbara Cappochin.

Architects or architectural firms of any nationality who are recognized by the professional association of architects in their country are eligible to submit their works completed between 1 July 2014 and 30 June 2017 in the following categories:

• Public and private residential architecture
• Commercial, managerial and mixed architecture
• Public architecture (educational, cultural, social-health, religious, sporting, recreational, landscape architecture)
• Sustainable urban regeneration/eco-districts

The International Jury will be composed by distinguished architects. ACE will be represented by Arch. Roger Riewe, who has recently participated to the ACE-EAAE-CNAPPC Symposium held on 6 May 2017 in Rome on Architectural Education.

All the works submitted will be shown in an exhibition lasting for at least 60 days and on the Barbara Cappochin Foundation and CNAPPC websites. The winner will be rewarded with a prize of 30.000€.

• Opening date for receiving entries – 9 April 2017
• Submission deadline – 12 pm (CET time), 30 July 2017

Registration:  www.bcbiennial.info

More information : http://en.bcfoundation.info/