Atelier Tanka is a young architecture agency located in Toulouse. Dushan Palacios, Vanessa de Castro Cerda and Romain Condomitti are responsible for the two recent construction projects on the LMHS campus. First of all, the New Building Project (in 2011) which resulted in the construction of 3 buildings offering 9 classrooms and, more recently, the Residential Building Project (RBP), an eco-responsible residential building designed to accommodate 20 to 25 students living in remote and isolated villages who cannot go home every night.
AFEX, Architectes Français à l’Export (French Architects for Export), is an association based on the French law of 1901 which aims to promote French architecture worldwide. It brings together 200 members including 120 architectural agencies and public and private partners. As part of its missions, AFEX, Architectes Français à l’EXport, has been organizing the AFEX Grand Prix for French architecture in the world since 2010 and rewards buildings built abroad by French architects, chosen for their quality of design and execution.
In 2020, the Jury Special Prize rewarded the overall work of the Atelier Tanka over the 2011 – 2019 period. The Jury particularly appreciated the quality of the approach and the achievement of the 3 architects
The extreme poverty of the environment in which the project was carried out stimulated the use of natural materials such as earth, straw and stone, and defined the most suitable, economical and sustainable way to implement them. The project was carried out thanks to the active participation of parents, school teachers and members of the community.
The AFEX 2020 Grand Prix, the Jury’s Special Prize and the Mentions au Palmarès will be awarded to their winners at the opening of the National Architecture Days on October 15 at the Palais Royal where the projects will be exhibited until December 15, 2020.
The exhibition will then begin its international tour.
