STEVEN HOLL WINS COPENHAGEN PROJECT; ANONYMOUS DONOR FUNDS NEW COMPETITION
Steven Holl Architects has won the international design competition “The LM Project.” With a program that connects office towers and civic spaces with a public walkway over two hundred feet above the harbor, the new design is intended to form an iconic landmark for Copenhagen’s waterfront. The competition was organized by CPH City and Port Development and ATP Ejendomme; the CEOs for both companies were among the jury members selecting the winner. The chairman of the jury—administrative director of the development company City/Harbor, as well as Copenhagen’s former mayor, Jens Karmer Mikkelsen—said, “This winning proposal is architecture in high, high class.” The current mayor of Copenhagen, Ritt Bjerregaard, praised the architectural firm’s design, saying, “With the winning project, we get a great high-rise building, which will bind the city together and function as a landmark in the harbor.”
In other news, an award worth over $4.8 million to build a new “creative and elegant” arts venue in Edinburgh was unveiled yesterday, reports The Scotsman’s Tim Cornwall. Competitive bids were invited to win funding for a new or refurbished arts space of “exceptional architectural and cultural merit” for Edinburgh. The winning project, to be built by 2013, could be anything from a concert hall to artists’ studios. Speculation was intense over the identity of the anonymous donor behind the extraordinary scheme, who will have the last call on whether to pay for the project. J. K. Rowling and Sir Sean Connery have been ruled out, sources said. Speculation ran from wealthy Americans with Scottish ties to old Edinburgh families with a history of giving. The Scottish Community Foundation (SCF)2, which usually funnels smaller donations to community projects, is handling the prize. Staff said yesterday it will take first-round applications in April. Promising proposals could receive sixteen thousand dollars in development money, with a final choice by a judging panel in 2010, to be ratified by the donor. “The donor behind this prize has a deep commitment to the arts in Scotland and wishes to remain anonymous,” said Giles Ruck, the foundation’s chief executive.
