(NEWS) WMU New Building Receives City of Malmö Annual Building Prize

September

2015

WMU New Building Receives City of Malmö Annual Building Prize

PRESS RELEASE: 16 Sept 2015

The World Maritime University’s (WMU) new building has been awarded the City of Malmö’s highest architecture prize, the stadsbyggnadspriset or City Building Prize. The awards were announced on 15 September with WMU’s Urbana Hängsel or “Urban Hinge” receiving the top honor based on its contemporary and well-executed design completed by the renowned Danish architect Kim Utzon in collaboration with the Australian architecture firm of Terroir Architects. Urban Hinge refers to the architects’ design concept of the building serving as an urban hinge between the historic city and the docklands.

“The winner of this year’s architecture award clearly shows that world-class architecture has a natural place in our city. It is an expression of Malmö’s global and upbeat character,” stated Karolina Skog, Urban Planning Councilor and Chairman of the award committee.

“The Urban Hinge is the result of an architectural competition that called for a bold design language. The result has exceeded all expectations. With mutual respect, the old and the new architecture have been woven together. The result is universal architecture for an institution without borders,” said City Architect, Ingemar Gråhamn.

The University moved into the state-of-the art facilities in April and inauguration celebrations followed on 19 May with a gathering of distinguished speakers and invitees from around the globe. The new facilities of nearly 6,000 square meters have essentially doubled WMU’s floor space offering immense opportunities to support the growth of the University with a new auditorium, multiple research labs, seminar rooms, and video-conferencing facilities. The WMU library, which houses an exceptional collection of maritime titles, has quadrupled in size, and vital collaborative spaces for students and faculty are located throughout the building.

WMU President, Dr. Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry stated, “The World Maritime University is proud that its headquarters is "the Urban Hinge", the winner of this year's prestigious architecture prize. Our extraordinary new facilities reflect and support the forward-looking mission of this unique institution that is part of the United Nations family. The exceptional environment is inspiring, fosters cross-communication, and provides state-of-the art facilities to support our mission to provide excellence to the global community in maritime and ocean postgraduate education and research.”

A public open house for the building is scheduled for Saturday, 26 September from 1000-1200. Guided tours will be given every 30 minutes. The visiting address is Fiskehamnsgatan 1, Malmö.

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