The Canada Council for the Arts has awarded the Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture to an innovative architect in pursuit of new ways to control heat and light. The recipient of the $50,000 award, Mr Eric Bunge of nARCHITECTS, will travel to countries in four distinct climates, including Brazil, Japan, China, Morocco and Finland so as to be able to study the way in which different cultures have invented architectural devices to control heat and light in buildings. The Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture aims to encourage the development of artistic excellence in contemporary architectural practice, and is awarded annually to an architect or practitioner of architecture, an architecture firm or an architectural design firm that has completed its first buildings and demonstrated an exceptional artistic potential. The prize makes it possible for the laureates to undertake international travel in order to hone their skills, develop their creative practice and strengthen their presence in international architecture culture. Mr Bunge and his partner Ms. Hoang will study analyze how cultures in different climates have employed architectural devices such as skylights, sunshades, screens, walls and roofs to control light and heat. Their project will place emphasis on considering the way in which these devices ‘could be instrumental in defining radical formal, organizational and tectonic possibilities for an imaginative contemporary architectural practice.’ The pair formed their own architectural practice, nARCHITECTS, in 1999 and the firm takes its name from the mathematical variable “n”, a quantity which has infinite possibilities. Through nARCHITECTS, their goal is ‘to achieve maximum effect with an economy of conceptual and material means, while having a positive impact on the environment.’ For further information about nARCHITECTS, CLICK HERE For further information, CLICK HERE