Author Archives: rmhprize

Recognition for Paris’s Cité de Refuge (1933/1952)

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Cité de Refuge (Le Corbusier, 1929) following renovation. Main entry, south façade, Nov. 2015 © ADAGP-FLC / Cyrille Weiner

Cité de Refuge (Le Corbusier, 1929) following renovation.
Main entry, south façade, Nov. 2015
© ADAGP-FLC / Cyrille Weiner

Designed by Le Corbusier et Pierre Jeanneret for the Salvation Army, everything is extraordinary at the Cité de Refuge (12, rue Cantagrel, Paris 13ème):  innovative architecture (its pilings, a rooftop garden, horizontal windows, an open plan and free façade), as well as its social aim, very ambitious for the time and based on a unique financing program.

Initiated by the Salvation Army over 80 years ago, the project continues today, welcoming and helping to re-establish those most in need, thanks to a renovation completed in November 2015.

This remarkable restoration, a conservation project with a benevolent objective, is the result of the joint intervention of the  Salvation Army  Foundation, the Fondation Le Corbusier, the Résidences Sociales de France-Immobilier, OPERA Architectes, François Chatillon  architectural agency, COTEC….

François Chatillon, Managing Architect for Historic Monuments, leads the project in association with architect Vanessa Fernandez, (Hunt Fellow 2010), AMO historical research advisor. To read the project presentation (in French) authored by Fernandez, follow this link.

The Pont du Gard and the Pont de Roquefavour

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Le Pont du Gard
© Benh Lieu Song 2014

It is impossible to imagine the effect which this granite chain linking two mountains produces, this rainbow made of stone which fills the whole horizon,  these three levels of porticos which eighteen centuries of sun have gilded.   I have seen several of the wonders of the world, but I have never seen anything which is as beautiful, as grand, as pure, as this magnificent granite epic which is called Le Pont du Gard.

 — Alexandre Dumas

To reinforce their prestige and domination throughout their many conquests, all the emperors of ancient Rome established towns during a thousand year period.

Searching for a place to settle, the Romans considered water as a “symbol of life”. To be able to build fountains, water tanks, latrines, artisan workshops or thermal baths, indispensable to the life of the city, the Romans had to be able to channel water as close as possible to the populations.

Aqueducts — a word formed from the two Latin words aqua (water) and ducere (to drive) — were therefore constructed by the builders of ancient times and nowadays Roman aqueducts, still visible, allow water to travel from source for a long way. Continue reading →

The Richard Morris Hunt Prize

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Statue of Liberty, Piedestral Richard Morris Hunt

Statue of Liberty, Piedestral Richard Morris Hunt

The Richard Morris Hunt Prize is awarded annually to confirmed architects alternatively French or American.

A $20.000 PRIZE
TO A RMH PRIZE FELLOW

This prestigious $20,000 award offers motivated architects, specialized in preservation open to the techniques of today, an opportunity to travel for six months, divided in 2 or 3 periods, in the United States or in France.

It is a total immersion, for research of the topic presented by the Laureate. All along his research, he will receive the backing of the RMH Prize Teams of both countries

A $5.000 PRIZE
TO A RMH PRIZE SCHOLAR

Awarded to an architect, alternatively French or American, specialized in preservation open to the techniques of today, the $5.000 Prize offers an opportunity to travel for a 5 weeks period in the United States or in France.

An immersion for research of the topic presented by the Laureate, backed by the RMH Prize Teams of both countries.

2016 Laureates Elected in Paris

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Photo B. Scharff

Photo B. Scharff

Paris, Friday, 11 December 2015 — On December 11th, the prestigious French-American RMH Prize Jury convened at the Hotel de Talleyrand in Paris, chaired by William Kerr of the AAF Board of Regents. Respecting its rule of alternating each year between American and French architects,the Jury awarded the26th RMH Fellowship to Lucas Monsaingeon and the 3rd RMH Scholar Prize to Florence Declaveillère. Continue reading →