Date: 13 August 2013
Press contact: Kristale
T: + 44 (0) 7725115576
LONDON– 4M Group, a design and build architecture practice
based in London, is among the final five contenders for this
year’s international World Architecture News Awards (WAN)
with HAMAM – a subterranean jazz bar in Prishtina,
Kosovo.
THE WAN Awards, now in its fifth year, is a major annual international competition that celebrates and promotes the best of fourteen categories, divided into: Interior Projects and Products. A fierce competition awaits candidates annually as the Awards receive more than 1,300 entries from the world's top architects and designers, making it the largest international architecture awards programme in the world.
This year, the competition received upwards of 250 entries in the
category for Best Bar Design. From there, the list has been
narrowed down to five finalists. 4M’s
HAMAM is up against the following: Electric in
Paris, France, designed by Since 1974;
Erlkönig in Insbruck, Austria, designed by
ATP Sphere GmbH; Northern Lights Bar at the Ion
Hotel in Reykjavik, Iceland, designed by Minarc; and
Wasbar in Gent, Belgium, designed by Pinkeye.
The shortlist is available to view at: http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/interiors/. Click on “Bars” to be taken to the
shortlist.
The brief for the awards were to show how the designs
addressed key elements of the client brief, as well as to explain
how the design has used an innovative approach to integrate and
enhance its context within its environment/community.
For HAMAM Jazz Bar, the CEO of 4M Group, Perparim Rama, said that
his team focused on both the sustainability aspect of the local
community, as well as on the local economy in order to create the
venue. The building was constructed using mostly local materials,
and the project employed local craftsmen, and used basic materials
native to the area such as wood, straw, metal, mud, and
concrete.
Rama said, “We wanted to create an environment that is both
unique and true to its surroundings, something that emerges from
the local community and is built by the people in its entirety,
from the rustic metal grand entrance doors aged from the earth to
the mud panels floating on the ceiling above.”
Winners of the WAN Award will be announced in front of a large
audience from the development, architecture, interior and product
design sectors at an exclusive evening Awards Ceremony at the
Saatchi Gallery in London on Thursday, 28 November 2013.
All entries are published on the WAN website, which receives
approximately
10.82 million online visits per month. Officially launched on 29th September 2005, WAN is now the
world's leading supplier of news to the global architectural
community. In March 2007 the website reached the prestigious No.1 position in Google for
"architecture news", and has remained in pole position
since.
Founded in 2004, 4M Group is comprised of accomplished
architects, designers, builders and planners whose realm of
expertise extends beyond residential projects to include retail,
hospitality and urban mixed-use designs. 4M is a thriving
organisation delivering contemporary and complex solutions across
private and public sectors, both UK-wide and internationally. The
company places an absolute importance on ecological responsibility
to both the environment and surrounding communities, whilst
acknowledging the impact of space on human emotion and well being.
The cornerstone of 4M’s team and practice philosophy is the
effective understanding of the needs of the client.
4M Group has celebrated numerous successes in the recent past,
being the first to represent Kosovo last year in the Architecture
Biennale in Venice Italy, as well as notably winning the award for
Architectural Innovation by the Kosovan Architectural Association,
and having been named as one of the Top 50 eco-sustainable firms
in the UK by Open Cities in 2009.
For more information on 4M Group, please visit: www.4mgroup.co.uk