Every two years, the City of Munich awards six prizes, each worth 8,000 euros, in recognition of outstanding artistic achievement in the fields of architecture, fine arts, design, photography and jewelry. The entire body of work up to this date is assessed.
In 2024, Victoria Schweyer and Jana Wunderlich were honored in the category of architecture. The two architects led the Master's project "Gute Orte" as guest lecturers at the Chair of Design in 2021 and have been research assistants at the Professorship of Architecture and Design since 2022. At TUM, they also focus on the examination of livable living in old age.
The jury's statement on the awarding of the prize reads:
"Demographic change means that the group of people in Germany that are over 65 years makes up almost a quarter of the total population. With their office "pflücken", founded in Munich in 2018, architects Jana Wunderlich and Victoria Schweyer are dedicating themselves to a self-chosen focus of the utmost urgency and social relevance, which has not yet received the attention it deserves in architectural discourse: age-appropriate and dementia-sensitive building. In an intensive personal exchange with residents and employees of care facilities, Jana Wunderlich and Victoria Schweyer develop planning concepts and structural interventions that improve the living and working environment of existing facilities. To this end, "pflücken" first explores in workshops which recurring images and patterns characterize life in care facilities and which places of longing are present in the memories of the residents and can be made visible. From this, sensitive architectural proposals for existing facilities are developed: from furniture and landscaping measures in gardens to small buildings and conversions, some of which "pflücken" implements itself or together with architecture students.
With their hands-on attitude and their skills, Jana Wunderlich and Victoria Schweyer are directly involved in an important social task as architects who think and design holistically and integratively. In addition to demographic change, they deal with two other important fields of action of our time: participatory and inclusive planning and building in existing buildings. They share their findings with students as part of their teaching activities and thus sensitize future architects to the question of a dignified living environment for older people - and thus for all of us."
The exhibition of the sponsorship awards can be seen until May 26th, 2024, Tuesday to Saturday from 1 to 7 pm and Sundays from 11 am to 7 pm in the Rathausgalerie (Marienplatz 8, 80331 Munich). Admission is free.