Plarent Berhamaj and Paolo Nazzari Declared Winners of the Linking Europe Competition.

Friday 31st May 2013

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"Where do you wanna wake up tomorrow?," --the winning project, will be used to customize the fuselage of Vueling's new A320 until December 2013.

Barcelona, May 31, 2013 - The Linking Europe Competition, announced last March by Vueling and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, has selected its winners.

The team, comprising young architect Plarent Berhamaj and designer Paolo Nazzari, took the accolade for their project "Where do you wanna wake up tomorrow?" conceived for one of Vueling's new Airbus A320 aircraft.

The competition was held to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the European Union Contemporary Architecture Prize - Mies van der Rohe Award, and was created with the objective of supporting talented youths, by offering them the possibility to turn one of their designs into a reality. The competition has also served as a platform for increasing awareness for projects by students studying architecture, engineering, design and art throughout Europe. They submitted their customized projects in response to the theme "The Construction of Europe through Cities and Culture."

As of today, the winning team will see its work vinylized and applied to one of Vueling's new aircraft, which will fly throughout Europe until the end of 2013. Furthermore, they may attend academic workshops at prestigious architecture and design universities and institutions, as well as attending keynote conferences to make contact with the best professionals of our times. The airline will also be awarding the two winners with five round-trip tickets each to travel on any Vueling destination of their choice.

Where do you wanna wake up tomorrow?

The project's authors: "We ask ourselves why people travel. The simplest answer is that they have an intellectual curiosity towards other cultures. However, if you continue to ask questions about this topic, you end up reaching the conclusion that the most highly valued attraction for tourists are monuments. That is why our A320 design is filled with silhouettes of various monuments in European and Spanish capitals. The silhouettes were designed in the same tone and are placed next to each other in order to highlight the fact that Europe is united by its differences and by its diversity. The yellow-coloured background reminds people that this is the colour of VUELING Airlines.   And as for the graphic representation of the monuments, we were inspired by the logo of the Fundació Mies van der Rohe."

The jury: After adding the votes of the other members of the Jury, the design taking the highest score was "Where do you wanna wake up tomorrow?," a submission with a concept linked to the values of Vueling Airlines and to the theme "The Construction of Europe through Cities and Culture." This design by Plarent Berhamaj and Paolo Nazzari combined its coherence with the competition's objectives with a high-quality submission, a clear presentation of their ideas and a high-impact design which stood out.

The Winners:

Plarent Berhamaj was born in Lushnje, Albania in 1987 and later moved to the Italian city of Ascoli Piceno.  In 2007, he moved to Rome to begin his university degree in Architecture at Roma Tre University. He earned his degree in 2011 after spending one year on an Erasmus Scholarship at the University of the Basque Country in San Sebastian. That same year, he began a Master's degree in Architecture, which he will soon be completing with a thesis on Seafront Architecture.

Paolo Nazzariis a 24-year-old industrial graphic designer who lives in Ascoli Piceno, Italy. He graduated from the ISIA ROMA DESIGN Institute in 2011 by completing a project in collaboration with Catalano. That very year, he won a design competition put on by Bosch. It was at that time when he began a two-year Master's degree program in Industrial Design at the Central Saint Martins College in London, developing projects for brands like Paul Smith, Microsoft, Orange and Camper. He will finish his studies in June 2013.

Linking Europe Competition:

The competition announced in March was opened up to students of architecture, engineering, design and art from more than 800 European universities.

A Committee of Experts from the professional worlds of architecture, design and communication studied the creations submitted, and after pre-selecting the most notable projects, an international jury chose the finalists and one winner, scoring their coherence with the competition objectives, the quality of the design solution, originality and the strength of the final image.

Vueling:

Vueling stood out from the beginning because it is an innovative company committed to cultural activities in its different destinations. The LINKING EUROPE COMPETITION is one step further taken by the company to support promising youths in architecture and design, helping them to develop their first project and get training in their field.

Vueling currently serves more than 200 routes in 100 cities all over Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. At present, it has 14 operational hubs and has transported more than 55 million passengers. Vueling is the leading airline at Barcelona's El Prat Airport, from where it will be flying direct to more than 100 destinations this summer season.

Fundaciao Mies Van Der Rhone:

Created to rebuild the Barcelona Pavilion which Ludwig Mies van der Rohe constructed in 1929, the Fundació has become an active platform for sharing ideas, where symposiums are organized and questions are brought up which seek to define the contribution made by architecture in the twenty-first century.

It is with this goal in mind that the Fundació created the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award 25 years ago, an award which highlights the contributions made by European architects in developing innovative ideas and technology research in urban and architectural development. Created in 1987 and co-financed by the EU Culture Program and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, it is the most prestigious award in European architecture. It is presented every two years to works completed in the two preceding years and is now celebrating its 13th edition.

Fundació Mies van der Rohe:

www.linkingeuropecompetition.com

www.miesbcn.com

www.miesarch.com

www.vueling.com