Grafton Architects, who lectured at this year's EASA, run by Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell, have scooped the first World Building of the Year award at the inaugural World Festival of Architecture for their new faculty building at Bocconi University in Milan.

The awards are the biggest and most wide-ranging architectural awards programme in the world, designed to "celebrate the work, concerns and aspirations of the international architectural community" according to its director, Paul Finch. At a time when many architectural practices in Ireland - including Grafton - have been laying off staff due to the downturn in the building industry, the news from the festival in Barcelona was particularly welcome.

A total of 224 buildings in 17 categories from 43 countries made it on to the shortlist. Grafton had already won the premier award in the "learning" category for their mammoth Milan project and then went on to win the overall award.

Nicosia: in-between

Borders divide and connect at the same time/ Borders exist for some groups of people and do not exist for others / They divide space in “here” and “there”, “inside” and “outside”, creating social divisions between “us” and “others”. / Fear is created, but also curiosity about the “others” / Division of space is further established by daily practices, but also new ways of border crossing are invented by the desire of communication INCM008 – WORKSHOP _ 8-10 November 2008 www.incm008cy.com

The EASA CY invites you to the Student Workshop included in in the INCM008 [Intermediate National Contacts Meeting] event which will take place on 1-11 of November in Nicosia.

Supported by Chambers of Architects of Cyprus (Chamber of Civil Engineers and Architects of Cyprus, Chamber of Turkish Cypriot Architects) and organised by architects and sociologists of different nationalities the workshop is aiming to examine and analyse the case of Nicosia as a divided city.

Nicosia: In-Between

The EASA INCMeeting, is proposing a 'stitch' on the border line which divides, still, Nicosia in two parts: An arrangement of places, for living and meeting, will be spread inside the centre of Nicosia, on both parts of the city and in the buffer zone. For the limited time the INCM008 'event' will be taking place, another -in between- geography will be created and superimposed on the space of the divided city. Since the opening of Ledra Street, the second crossing point in Nicosia, the city is witnessing the first effects of change: property prices are rising, buildings are renovated... This transitional period, depending on the political negotiations, could last for a few more months or for years. Τhe city and its present inhabitants will continue to live and experience an ‘in-between time-condition’. Before the total regeneration of the whole of the city, this suspension of time, provides a critical time-'gap' which allows for documentation, speculation, imagination and alternative thinking of the city’s -unique- condition. In this context, the Workshop organized for the INCM meeting in Nicosia, will take advantage of this in-between condition, to focus on the relation of ‘borders and space’ inside the city.

Workshop Brief: The Workshop consists of two parts: A. Urban Narratives project: Between 4-10 November participants of the EASA meeting are encouraged to deliver traces of their own experience of the divided city, the practice of crossing, the architecture of the border and division etc. The ‘archiving’ procedure will take advantage of the EASA proposed geography inside the city and the event of daily crossings and meetings in places in both parts of the city. Critical observations and individual narratives recorded in images / videos / sounds / texts / inventories / maps etc. could provide a vast collection of impressions on the city's present condition.
B. Parallel -intense- workshops will be organized in the last three days, between 8-10th of November, focusing on the buffer zone condition and the city center. Other activities such as lectures, documentary screenings and site excursions will provide important related information to the participants. On the 10th of November an exhibition and a joint presentation of the outcome of the workshops will take place in Ledra Palace. More information on the workshops will be presented on Monday 08.11.2008. The participants of the workshop will get a certificate from Chambers of Architects of Cyprus.

Workshop Tutors: Pelin Tan (Sociologist, PhD candidate Art History ITU) / Petros Phokaides (architect, NTUA PhD candidate) / Fereniki Vatavali (architect, NTUA PhD candidate) / Maria Kosti (architect) / Chara Stefanou (Aural and Visual Cultures, UCy PhD Candidate)

Final critics: Anber Onar (art critic) / Aristides Antonas (architect/writer) / Pavlina Paraskevaidou (Phd Candidate curator/writer) / Fevzi Ozersay (Phd architect)