Bee Breeders has announced winners for The Archhive-Books' Portable Reading Rooms competition, which looked to bring together and implement ideas from around the world that would create a simple but important space to allow more opportunities for reading. Winners of this competition, organised by Bee Breeders, were chosen based on their ability to be implemented, and also for their innovative thinking.

First prize was awarded to Lorenzo Sizzi and Müge Yürüten from Italy who proposed a 9m² wooden open-air platform topped by an enclosure of iridescent foil. Their 'Nameless Sky' project simply contained two interior seats and bookshelves accessible from the perimeter. It is a symbolic project. It forces users to bend down to pick up books or to sit within the structure, emphasizing reading as an act requiring concentration and work.

Second and third prizes were awarded to Renata Wuerkert from Brazil and Wenhao Nie from Nanchang University in China respectively. The two projects varied wildly from a simple modular tent-like structure comprised of wooden panels, to an urban landmark structure feature gas-filled balloons that grabs the attention of the public.

See the full winning projects below:

Image courtesy of the artists

1st prize winners: Nameless Sky by Lorenzo Sizzi and Müge Yürüten from Italy

Jury comment:

The proposal consists of a 9m² wooden open-air platform topped by an enclosure of iridescent foil. Entitled 'Nameless Sky', it contains two interior seats and bookshelves accessible from the perimeter. It is a symbolic project. It forces users to bend down to pick up books or to sit within the structure, emphasizing reading as an act requiring concentration and work. The synthetic sky above is an allusion to one's imagination. The jury was impressed by project's simple representation, yet complex ideas.

Image courtesy of the artists

2nd prize winner: The Reading Corner by Renata Wuerkert from Brazil

Jury comment:

'The Reading Corner' is a modular tent-like structure comprised of 5 wooden panels threaded and held together with a series of light steel tension cables, and topped by a translucent fabric for protection from the elements. The construction offers an intimate reading space. It is also a place to quietly share thoughts or quotations - mobile block letters on tiny shelves can be rearranged by users on a wall embedded with small shelves that hold the text. The jury questions the form and displacement of the book-sharing station from the main structure. However, the project seems easy to fabricate with simple materials, and one can easily imagine this as a popular destination within a park or city plaza.

Images courtesy of the artist

3rd prize and BB Student winner: Floating Books by Wenhao Nie from Nanchang University in China

Jury comment:

'Floating Books' makes use of gas-filled balloons to generate a new type of urban landmark that can be easily transported through a city. The structure demands attention - it is other-wordly and ephemeral, and the designer is clearly attempting to attract people to this urban element as a means to generate interest in the books it carries. The intention of the project is admirable, though the jury questions its ability to be implemented in a sustainable way.

Image courtesy of the artists

BB Green Award winners: ASTRA by Joanna Abi Nader and Ragheed Abi Hassan

See Honorable Mentions on the website. You can see other architecture competitions on WAC's Competitions Page. 

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