They were looking for versatility, they brought the award. VCPD publication scores Fedrigoni Top Award

The Fedrigoni Top Award uděluje has been awarded by Europe's leading paper manufacturer since 2005. This international competition recognises the best graphic and printing work, decided by an international jury of world-renowned graphic design experts. This year's jury included Silvana Amato, Ivan Bell, Simon Esterson, Laurent Hainaut, Jiaying Han, Fanette Mellier and Marion Trossat. 368 books from around the world were shortlisted.

The book The Quest for Universality introduces readers to the processes behind the changes in industrial architecture in the second half of the last century, when modern factories were transformed from individual architectural works into universal industrial buildings. The search for new architectural solutions was based on pragmatic foundations defined by order, finance and the possibilities of construction and engineering production. It presents over 400 technical buildings, industrial complexes and unrealised projects "The book does not intend to present an academic chronological development of industrial architecture, nor to be a catalogue of selected factories. But it opens up a hitherto overlooked topic, even at the price of the risks that this intention logically entails. That is why it is presented more as a footnote, an informational basis, so that it is possible to have something to rely on and to build on," says the author Jan Zikmund.

The publication was produced within the project Industrial Architecture: Understanding Monuments of Industrial Heritage as Technical-Architectural Works and as a Source of Identity of a Place in the Programme of Applied Research and Development of National and Cultural Identity (NAKI II).

The book review by Petr Freiwillig in the magazine Zprávy památkové péče 02/2021 can be read here and the review by Jaroslav Zeman in the magazine ERA21 04/2021 here. Book presentation at PechaKucha Night vol. 75 to view here.