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The 2004 Essay Prize Competition

Background

The Berkeley Prize undergraduate essay competition was established in the Department of Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley to promote architecture as a social art through writing and criticism, two traditionally underrepresented aspects of the architecture curriculum. Architectural history, theory and practice are rich with concepts and realizations of building that signify architecture as a social art. In addressing the question posed by the Berkeley Prize 2004 essay competition, you will consider this legacy and its relevance to you as future architects.

Special Prize Award

This year, the Berkeley Prize honorariums will be augmented by a Special Prize Award, airfare and a stipend to attend a portion of Forum Barcelona 2004, a series of conferences, dialogues, and special events spread out over a five-month long period, organized to offer in the city of Barcelona a "new and creative space for reflection and experimentation in relation to the main cultural and social conflicts that humanity is faced with at the outset of the 21st century." The Berkeley Prize Essay Finalists will be eligible to compete for the Special Prize Award.

In establishing the Special Prize Award, the Berkeley Prize Committee also honors its continued association with UNESCO's World Heritage Centre. UNESCO's activities are of a humanitarian and cultural significance that illuminate for the world the reality that Architecture is a Social Art.