“I am honored to announce that the Master Dissertation of Katarzyna (Kasia) MALINOWSKA, one of my former top students has been awarded with an ‘Honorable Mention’ in an international architecture competition.”
The ‘Architecture Thesis of the Year | ATY 2020’ is an international architecture thesis competition organized by the Charette. The aim of the competition is to extend appreciation to the tireless effort and exceptional creativity of student thesis in the fields of Architecture, Urban Design, Landscape and Restoration. We seek to encourage young talent in bringing their path breaking ideas to the forefront on a global scale. The competition received over 1000 entries from 104 nations across the world. See the crème de la crème of thesis projects from students all over the world for the 2020 edition of the competition.
The full results, including the winners, the honorable mentions, and the top 30 shortlisted entries can be viewed at: https://thecharette.org/architecture-thesis-of-the-year-2020/results/
“Kasia conducted her Master Dissertation track within the International Master Program, Campus Sint-Lucas Ghent (MAIG42 – 2018-2019). This particular curriculum, currently renamed as ‘Resilient and Sustainable Strategies’, addresses various issues of the Debate on Sustainability as approached from the perspective of Architecture and ‘Research by Design’.
As academic supervisor of her master dissertation design project within my arCsus (architecture – CULTURE – sustainability) research Lab, I am very well placed to certify that Kasia distinguished herself as an exceptional talented and skilled student of architecture. As her mentor, it was a true pleasure to ‘coach’ her throughout her Master Dissertation design project entitled:
TRADITIONAL SALINAS HERITAGE STRATEGIES CHALLENGED: Spatio-cultural rethinking the lost salt extraction industry of the Tarquinia Salt Works nature reserve in Italy from the perspective of hardcore heritage design honoring the impermanence of material culture
Without any doubt this exceptionally high valued project will act as ‘best practice’ and benchmark to trigger and upscale the quality of my future students. In 2017, I have transformed my residence, the M2M House at Lokeren into the arCsus Lab@home.
Accommodated as an academic ‘Research by Design’ seminar and documentation center on location, the major focus centers around “Diversity, Vacancies and Hardcore Heritage” issues. Besides running my ‘Academic Design Office’ in close co-operation with the practice based RAAAF (Rietveld, Architecture, Art and AFfordances) office in Amsterdam, the M2M House serves as a permanent exhibition place to inform the visitors about complexity and high level of achievement of 1st master and master dissertation students that operate within the “arCsus-RAAAF Lab research modus. Kasia’s work was selected for the arCsus Wall of Fame. (work in progress and jury pictures see PPT).
The socio-cultural intent, backing up all of her design moves and talent to apply ‘designing’ as a ‘mediating’ force, is exemplary. Kasia impressed me with her unlimited eagerness to learn and to improve the quality of her project (intrinsic and representational) until the very day of the Faculty’s external jury.
It therefore no surprise that once exposed to a worldwide architecture competition, her master dissertation project was shortlisted and awarded out of more than 1000 entries from 104 nations across the world. Hereunder the ATY 2020 jury comment excerpt:
“The project is well thought as it extracts the essence of the place: the salt that defines the landscape also defines the architecture. The proposition restores not only the physical aspect, but also brings a cultural importance through historical remembrance. Finally, the drawings find in their simplicity a great quality.”
- KASIA MALINOWSKY MD REFLECTION PAPER MAIG42-arCsusLab 2018-2019
- MAIG42 arCsus RAAAF design studio project
- https://thecharette.org/architecture-thesis-of-the-year-2020/results/
- https://www.instagram.com/p/CD_qKNkBlNf/?igshid=1ufkrjqwu1k1j
- https://thecharette.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/theCharette-ATY-2020-Press-Release.pdf
“I do hope that this exceptional project may trigger students to contribute to the Faculty’s engagement ‘Contested Legacy’ in general and partake in the arCsus Lab ‘Hardcore Heritage’ research by design modus.”
Prof.dr. Arch. Marc Dujardin on behalf of the arCsusLab team.