A small summer residence, Talus du Temple, near an 18th-century tower coined by the architect as "Le Temple de l'Amour (Temple of Love)" in the Burgundy region of France, is the top prizewinner of the 2002 DuPont Benedictus Awards, an international competition that recognizes significant and innovative architectural uses in laminated glass. The AIA and DuPont announced this and other honorees at the AIA convention in Charlotte last week.

The award-winning French project draws its influence from an octagonal structure on the same property where a former princess of Orange, a niece of the Dutch Royal family, would "receive her lover," according to the awards program. Dutch architect Dirk Jan Postel, Kraaijvanger Urbis, designed the house after the accidental discovery of a vault in an abutment, which was constructed as an explosion chamber to destroy a bridge during World War II. The laminated glass pavilion sits atop the former bridge to offer views of the river and the Burgundy landscape. Postel said the aim of the design was to "express the magic of the roof 'floating on nothing.'" In addition to a glass pavilion, the temple contains one bedroom and a living-kitchen quarter.

Just two glass panels of laminated glass support the cantilevered roof, which weighs about 4,400 lbs. The roof was carefully lowered on to the glass to evenly spread the load throughout the structure. "I have probably not seen a finer example of use of laminated glass as a total structural element," one judge noted.

The competition, in its 10th year, takes its name from Edouard Bénédictus, a French chemist who discovered the process for laminating glass. Kisho Kurokawa, FAIA, FRIBA, Kisho Kurokawa Architect and Associates; Arthur Cotton Moore, FAIA; and professor Werner Sobek, president of the engineering firm Werner Sobek Ingenieure GmbH, Stuttgart, Germany, served as jurists for the 2002 competition. Major funding is provided by DuPont, and the competition is organized by the AIA with the support of the International Union of Architects.

This jury noted a trend toward using glass in a load-bearing function. Because of its transparency, glass is also being used to highlight the surrounding environment. "It's invisible architecture," one juror commented.

Special recognition awards
The competition features seven building categories. This year, judges awarded special recognition to three entries:

Commercial
Jean-Marie Duthilleul, Francois Bonnefille, Etienne Tricaud, AREP (with RFP Engineers), Paris, for the TGV station, Avignon, France. The architects worked with the glazing firm of Gartner and the glass laminator Glaverbel to create a train station that would protect passengers against threats of earthquakes, gusty winds, and the strong summer sun. The project owners, SNCF, wanted to build a structure as long as one of the high-speed trains, glazed on the north side to illuminate the interior and opaque on the south side to filter the sun's rays. To mitigate the earthquake threat, a triangular frame set over regularly spaced piles holds the steel superstructure, supporting both the opaque and transparent skins. The glazed façade is made of individual glazed panels—the inner panel is laminated and the outer glass is fritted with a pattern of white dots for solar control. Low-e coatings were also applied, and the panels are internally ventilated to prevent condensation from collecting between the double-glazing.

Community
Franck Hammoutene, Atelier Franck Hammoutene Architecte, Paris, worked with RFR Engineers and glazing firm Chantiers Du Cardinal to create Notre Dame de Pentecôte Church in a business sector marked by intersecting highways and high-rise buildings. The architects opted for laminated glass because of the quality of light that would pass through to provide transparency for the cross. The structure consists of a galvanized-steel spaceframe to avoid shadows of the structural elements on the glass. Translucent glass surrounding the edifice creates the effect of a light box with no visible structure. One juror called attention to the project's "handsome cubistic composition" and added, "the lightness of the structural wall is elegant."

Governemnt
Kiyoshi Sakurai, Tadashi Yamane, Ken Yoshimura, Shigeru Yoshino of Kinnen Sekkei Ltd. teamed up with Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd., and NSG D&G System Co., Ltd., to create the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. Laminated glass was used in several areas of the museum, which is on a piece of landfill property where planes fly low overhead. The laminated glass was chosen because of its strength against strong winds, transparence, and energy saving and recycling qualities. One of the challenges was to create a three-dimensional glass curtain wall with very few fasteners. The structure includes a bracing system for completely dampening the effects of a horizontal movement in the event of an earthquake. The judges noted that building was not "totally dependent on artificial means" and that "laminated glass was used in several areas of the museum, including the roof, cantilevered external glass wall, [with] floor glass in the entrance and floor signs."

Student competition
This year's challenge to students and faculty was to "address architectural issues surrounding the use of laminated glass in a theoretical design problem while exploring the various uses and applications of laminated glass as a building problem." The competition is sponsored by DuPont and administered by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) in cooperation with the AIA.

A first prize of $5,000 was awarded to students and faculty advisors from the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles, who envisioned a library that employed glass as a structural element and as bookshelves. Second and third prizes went to students and faculty advisors from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. The second place winners used laminated glass as a load-bearing element in roofs and floors, and the third place winners "pushed the envelope for form and technology" by using the material to regulate fluctuations in light, sound, and temperature.

Copyright 2002 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.