Hannah Schubert, student of the Master’s in Landscape Architecture, has won the Graduation Prize 2015 of the Amsterdam University of the Arts (AHK) with her project Second Nature. Her graduation work convinced the jury with its excellence, beautiful wording and social relevance. The Audience Award was awarded to Yung-Tuan Ku, alumna of the Master’s in Classical Music (percussion), for her graduation performance, Story. 

Through the Graduation Prize, the AHK wants to stimulate students to adopt an enterprising attitude, and to relate to the public, sponsors and the government in a new way. Ten projects by graduates from 2015, originating from various faculties, were nominated. In addition to a very good assessment, the way in which the students made a connection with the outside world, and the relevance of their work for the development of the discipline, were important criteria for the prize. Hannah Schubert received cheque worth € 3,000 from Maarten Kloos, president of the jury and also member of the AHK Supervisory Board.

Winning graduation work
Hannah Schubert did the Master’s in Landscape Architecture at the Academy of Architecture. In her graduation work Second Nature, she examines how dilapidated buildings, often an eyesore for people living in the neighbourhood, can be made into something positive, without the need for demolition or renovation. Through just a few small interventions, she was able to transform the old Scheringa museum into an ecological refuge for the plants and species of animals that have increasingly less place in the arid farmlands of West-Friesland. The jury praised Hannah for her originality and social commitment. Jury president Maarten Kloos: ‘We were impressed by the refined way in which Hannah was able to transform a social problem into opportunities. The poetic quality that each building would ultimately become nature once again, and the humorous quality of directing nature, surprise and inspires us as jury.

Hannah: ‘I worked for a year on my project Second Nature, which is an exploration of a slow, natural demolition. Motivated by the recent credit crisis, there is the perception that the Netherlands is increasingly dealing with vacant space and buildings that can no longer be given a new function in the customary way. If we let time run its course, there will irrevocably be a moment that landscape architecture takes over. In that process, there is s sliding scale and a turning point: because when is something still a building, and when does it become landscape once again.

Audience Award
Approximately 1,600 people voted for the AHK Audience Award this year. The winner of the €1,000 prize was Yung-Tuan Ku alumna of the Master’s in Classical Music (percussion) of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, for her graduation performance, Story. 

Yung-Tuan: ‘Story is a work combination of percussion music, theatre and visuals. It is a challenging programme outside of the standard percussion performance repertoire showing my artistic musical vision. I guided the audience experiencing different soundscapes and shared my own stories with them.

Presentation
The festive presentation of the Graduation Prize took place on 23 November in the Reinwardt Academy with the assistance of all nominees, their supervisors and invitees and the jury, consisting of president Maarten Kloos (founder Arcam, member of the AHK Supervisory Board), Simone van den Ende (Concept development drama, arts & culture, AVROTROS), Taco Dibbits (director of collections Rijksmuseum) and Maarten van Boven (general and artistic director Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ).

All the nominated projects can be seen at www.ahk.nl/eindwerkprijs.