As sponsors of the seventh annual Foundation Award, global design and BIM software developer Vectorworks Inc. and its Swiss distributor ComputerWorks AG are proud to announce that Zürich-based JOM Architects is the first-place winner. The award recognizes exceptional architecture firms established for fewer than four years. Winners received licenses of Vectorworks Designer software, as well as a monetary reward for a combined value of CHF 24,000.
 
“We are proud that over the last few years the Foundation Award has been a stepping stone for many talented architects, since it is the only award in Switzerland to promote young entrepreneurs in the building industry,” said Andreas Kling, CEO of ComputerWorks Switzerland. 
 
The Foundation Award’s jury judged applications holistically, evaluating the projects submitted alongside each firm’s self-description. Entries were also judged based on each firm’s ability to articulate their design philosophy and why it matters through their work.
 
The winning offices received their prizes during a ceremony held at the S AM Swiss Architecture Museum in Basel, another sponsor of the award. Rubina Siddiqui, Assoc., AIA, product marketing manager – architecture at Vectorworks, presented the awards. Siddiqui is an expert in BIM applications and co-host of the Art in Architecture webinar series.
 
“Being a part of the Foundation Award reinforces Vectorworks’ support of young architects who are exploring new ways to design and model,” said Siddiqui. “Our participation is indicative of how valued designers are making an impact, and we are pleased to provide them with Vectorworks Designer software licenses so they can continue to transform the world.”
 
Vectorworks Designer software is the ultimate solution for the design professional who needs it all. From integrated graphical scripting to subdivision modeling tools, Vectorworks software easily enables designers to draft, model and present in a single, intuitive interface.
 
To earn their recognition, related prizes and a video profile from art-tv.ch, JOM’s Michael Metzger, Philippe Jorisch and Stefan Oeschger submitted two designs: the conversion of the “Villa Seeblick” in St.Gallen and a multi-family house in Wetzikon. Each designer brought their different backgrounds and focuses to these works to demonstrate the productive potential of heterogeneous mindsets.
 
Other firms recognized at the Foundation Award 2016 included Lilitt Bollinger of lilitt bollinger studio, who was awarded second place based on her submitted work of an apartment on Lake Brienz and a residential house in Obstalden. The jury noted her “strong personal relation to each task, place and construction.”
 
Third place was presented to Jaeger Koechlin Architects. Patrick Jaeger and Ariel Koechlin submitted several projects, including a kindergarten in Wildenstein scheduled to be built in 2017. Their sense of space, materials and their convincing presentation of projects was admired by the Foundation Award jury.
 
Along with Vectorworks and ComputerWorks AG, this award was also supported by media publications such as the architecture magazine Hochparterre, the online cultural channel art-tv.ch and the online portal for architects swiss- architects.com, as well as the hardware manufacturer Hewlett Packard.
 
The application for the next Foundation Award is available now with a deadline of April 30, 2017.