Dezeen promotion: a community centre in Bangladesh designed by German architect Anna Heringer has won the second edition of the prestigious Obel Award.
Named Anandaloy, which means place of deep joy in the local dialect, the building contains a therapy centre for people with disabilities on the ground floor with a women-led textile workshop above it.
The building was named the second winner of the Obel Award, which is presented annually by the Henrik Frode Obel Foundation to honour "recent and outstanding architectural contributions to human development all over the world".
Anandaloy has won this year's Obel Award
"To all of us in the jury, Anandaloy is an outstanding project," said Martha Schwartz, chair of the Obel Award 2020 jury and founder of US studio Martha Schwartz Partners. "It is an original piece," Schwartz continued. "It is not in the style of; it is not imitating something else. I think Anna is absolutely dedicated to what she is doing, which is what you see when you see a good piece of art: that there is a good, focused intent behind it."
"Anna manages to integrate all of her values: she is building sustainably, using the materials that are there, having people involved, so that they can learn to build for themselves, and creating more opportunities for women and for people with disabilities," she added. "You can feel that she has a real respect for the culture, for the people, for the land."
The ra...