THE EUROPEAN STEEL DESIGN AWARDS are given by ECCS every two years to encourage the creative and outstanding use of steel in architecture and construction. Outstanding design in steel construction emphasizes the many advantages of steel in construction, production, economy, environment and architecture.

AWARDS OF MERIT are given to national winners and the AWARD OF EXCELLENCE awards the European winner among these Awards of Merit.

Last Steel Design Awards were given at the end of the EUROSTEEL conference on 12th September 2017 in Copenhagen.

The Award of Excellence went to Robert College Murat Karamanci, a student centre in Istanbul, Turkey.

Project owner

Robert College

Steel Contractor

Algan CelikAlgan Celik

Architect

Ahmet Alatas Workshop

Consulting engineer

Werkraum Ingenieure

Murat Karamanci Student Centre located at Robert College in Istanbul is an educational building that stands up as a good example of sustainability, recyclability and re-usage. It aims to create an multifunctional environment where the younger generation can picture a freer and brighter future.

Robert College, where the site is located in, is one of the oldest American academic Institutions outside the US. The school is located on Bosporus where constructions are prohibited due to a historical preservation law. The buildings on the school site were built during 1914-1925s and are listed as historical buildings.

Because of the prohibitions, the school council decided to use the tent-covered gym space, namely Bubble built in 2010, as the project site. Therefore, the design was limited to have the same formal appearance and contours with the existing Bubble membrane.

The jury decided to award the general sustainability of the project, not for its structural complexity, but rather for its intelligent redesign and reuse of an existing structure. Mindful of legislative impositions, and the physical constraints on the site, it imaginatively reinterprets and creates an open, new social space. By reinforcing, substituting, and inserting new structural steel elements, such as the mezzanine floor, the internal space is completely remodeled. The structure functions as a didactic instrument, by simplifying and reducing the internal programme. The new translucent facade produces a striking aesthetic by day or night, resulting in a new quality and connection between the natural and the interior space. The triangulated shape also stabilizes the portal frame steel structure, yet maintaining a very lightweight impression. The load bearing steel structure is completely visible, and therefore easily understood and appreciated.

For the European Steel Design Awards, students are also encouraged to submit projects they prepared for their studies. In Copenhagen, 3 students got a special STUDENT AWARD and the opportunity to introduce their projects to the public.

Anders Haagaas Grinde, from The Oslo School of Architecture and Design, investigated a new industrial typology - a complete self-reliant facility for food production, connecting all the steps from breeding to processing into one single line along a visitor centre. He presented his project called FISH.

Ashkan Cheheltan, Hendrik Brinkmann, Jakob Grave and Konrad Schuhmacher, from the Institut für Architektur und Städtebau, Berlin, introduced their project KRUMMER STEG, a bridge between Teltow and Zehlendorf.

Abdüsselam Şahin, Ümit Nurullah Yürük, Bilal Torǧul and Idris Demirli, from the İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi Mimarlık Fakültesi, presented their project EŞİK MURATPAŞA PIER