Latest news with #GoldPrize
CairoScene
4 days ago
- Business
- CairoScene
Saudi Pavilion in Osaka Wins Top Prize for Cultural Design
The Saudi Pavilion was designed by Foster + Partners to reflect the Kingdom's cultural wealth. May 29, 2025 Saudi Arabia's pavilion at Expo Osaka 2025 has received the Gold Prize in the Cultural Architecture – Interactive and Experiential Spaces category at the New York Architectural Design Awards. The award recognised the pavilion for its architectural excellence and its ability to deliver an immersive experience that reflects the cultural wealth of Saudi Arabia. Designed by Foster + Partners, the pavilion was developed under the supervision of the Saudi Architecture and Design Commission, with leadership from CEO Dr. Sumayah Al-Solaiman and Project Manager Fatima Al-Doukhi. The pavilion's layout guides visitors through an outer courtyard into a central inner courtyard, creating a contemplative journey influenced by the geographical and cultural diversity of Saudi cities and regions. It serves not only as a showcase of architectural design but also as a venue for cultural performances and programming during the six-month duration of the Expo. A key theme of the design is the exploration of cultural parallels between Saudi Arabia and Japan, inviting visitors into a spirit of cross-cultural discovery. In terms of sustainability, the structure integrates passive cooling techniques and strategically arranged structural blocks to promote natural airflow. It uses low-carbon construction materials, solar technologies, and energy-efficient lighting, all in line with Japanese and international environmental standards. Accessibility was a core principle in the design, with features such as Braille signage, inclusive pathways, and interactive elements tailored to diverse user needs. Visually, the pavilion is marked by a modular façade inspired by Voronoi diagrams, offering both aesthetic impact and functional flexibility. This element contributes to the pavilion's adaptability and environmental harmony. Since opening, the Saudi Pavilion has welcomed more than 500,000 visitors.
Leaders
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Leaders
Saudi Pavilion Secures New York Architectural Design Awards at Expo Osaka 2025
The New York Architectural Design Awards has awarded the Gold Prize to Saudi Arabia's pavilion at Japan's Expo Osaka 2025 in the Cultural Architecture – Interactive and Experiential Spaces category. The award represents a prestigious recognition of the pavilion's architectural excellence and its futuristic design that depicts the true essence of Saudi culture, according to the Saudi Press Agency. Through a sensory journey beginning with an outer courtyard and leading into a central inner one, the structure stands out as a contemplative space showcasing the Kingdom's cultural and urban diversity across cities and regions. Promisingly, the pavilion will serve as a vibrant venue for performances and cultural programming throughout the six-month duration of the Expo. As for the design, it significantly portrays a stunning image of the architectural essence of Saudi villages and cities. Interestingly, it also ignites the spirit of discovery and highlights cultural parallels between both Saudi Arabia and Japan. Saudi Pavilion at Expo Osaka 2025 To facilitate wind movement, the design relies on passive cooling strategies operated by the strategic placement of structural blocks to ensure sustainability. The building also employs low-carbon materials, energy-efficient lighting, and solar energy technologies. Thus, it perfectly aligns with both international and Japanese sustainability standards. Since its launch on April 13, Saudi pavilion has captured the attention of more than half a million visitors. Overall, the pavilion has hosted approximately 175 events, such as cultural performances, business events, media and more than 400 VIP delegations. Related Topics: Culture Minister Inaugurates Saudi Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka Saudi Envoy to Japan Shares Vision for Expo 2025 Osaka Pavilion Saudi Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka Unveils 700 Cultural Events Short link : Post Views: 1
BBC News
15-03-2025
- General
- BBC News
My sister's months at sea after whale sunk boat
The first Pat Brewin knew about her sister and brother-in-law being shipwrecked at sea in a dinghy and rubber life raft - tied together for nearly four months - was when she was watched the News at 10."I said 'oh my God - that's our Maralyn being helped up the gangway'. "I can see her little legs now, they were like little sticks when they were carried into this Korean boat," she and Maurice Bailey's boat sank when it was hit by a whale in the Pacific Ocean on 4 March 1973, and after their food ran out, they made hooks from safety pins and caught fish, small sharks, seabirds and turtles to eat, and collected rainwater to drink. After a book about the survival of the Derby couple, who have since died, was named the best title of last year, Pat says it was her sister - who could not swim - that kept the pair going. Earlier this month, the book - called Maurice and Maralyn: An Extraordinary True Story of Shipwreck, Survival and Love - by Sophie Elmhirst, won the £30,000 Gold Prize at the Nero Book Awards. In 1966, Maralyn - who worked in a tax office - suggested to her husband they sell their house, in Allestree, buy a boat and live on pair - who both grew up in Normanton - bought their 31ft yacht called Auralyn and set sail for New Zealand from Southampton on 28 June 1972, with Maralyn aged 31, and Maurice aged told the BBC she would regularly receive postcards from her older sister. The 79-year-old said: "On one of them she said 'don't worry - you won't hear from me for a bit because we're crossing the Galapagos', so we never gave it another thought." At the end of February 1973, Maurice and Maralyn - who had married in 1963 - left Panama for the Galapagos Islands, a journey which should have taken about 10 days. But on day six - 4 March - the ship sank, 250 miles from their couple were left fighting for survival for 118 days on a 9ft-long dinghy and a life raft, which was 4ft 6in in diameter, tied together. They drifted about 1,500 miles in a mainly north-westwards direction before they were rescued by a Korean fishing who was talking to the BBC from her home in Chaddesden, in Derby, said Maralyn could not said: "I remember saying to her 'what are you going to do if you got into difficulties or into the sea?' She said 'I'll be fine'."And she would knowing Maralyn - she would find some way out of it." Pat said: "I think Maurice gave up. She was the strong one, definitely."She added: "I know how frightening it was."One night they had tied the rafts together and she was looking through a peep hole and two eyes were looking at her - and it was a huge whale. "She just sat there thinking, 'this is the end, one flip'. She said [the whale] just stared and stared, and then she didn't hear a ripple." Talking about their diet of survival, Pat said the couple, who later became vegetarian, had to eat everything raw. She said: "I remember them saying to her when she was rescued, they could not understand how her nails were still perfect. "For every fish she caught, she used to save the eyes and call them Smarties [after the chocolate sweet] - so they had a 'Smartie' at night."Apparently around fishes' eyes is all vitamins, so she never had scurvy or anything." Maurice and Maralyn - who were sitting in water up to waist deep - would try to get the attention of passing ships, but without said: "They'd used all their flares, the jackets and I think they sort of resigned themselves - I think Maurice had more - that they wouldn't make it."A total of seven ships passed them - Maurice, who had worked at Bemrose Booth printers in Derby, wrote in a first-hand said some were "within, half to three-quarters of a mile away, but none saw or heard our signals for help". "We were troubled by sharks buffeting the raft and whales blowing close and showering us with water," he added. In an interview with the BBC - broadcast in 2014 - Maurice, who later died in 2018, said: "I have always put the credit down to Maralyn that she saved me that I wouldn't have survived at all on my own, or if she was relying on me to save her, she wouldn't have had a very good outcome." He added: "She was the guiding light in everything we did."Maurice wrote in a first-hand account that they could only eat small amounts when they were rescued because they were too weak, and initially just had milk, then eggs, soup and butter. Moving was also very painful for them, and at first they could only crawl before they began to "hobble". The fishing boat took the them to Honolulu where they received medical treatment, and were also greeted by a lot of media attention. Journalist Ivor Davies, who was working for the Daily Express and saw the couple arrive, told the BBC: "This young couple stepped off a Korean fishing boat looking like they had just come out of a concentration camp."They were emaciated and hardly able to walk."Pat added: "I don't know how she did survive, I really don't."
Saudi Gazette
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Saudi Gazette
Real-life shipwreck story wins major book award
LONDON — The true story of a British couple who spent four months adrift on a life raft in the Pacific Ocean, after their boat was sunk by a whale, has been named the best book of last year at a prestigious ceremony. Maurice and Maralyn: An Extraordinary True Story of Shipwreck, Survival and Love, by Sophie Elmhirst, won the £30,000 Gold Prize at the Nero Book Awards, on tells the story of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey, who sold their Derbyshire bungalow to build a boat and set sail for New Zealand, in 1972, but had to survive at sea for 118 days after it Bill Bryson, who chaired the judges, called it "an enthralling, engrossing story of survival and the resilience of the human spirit".The Baileys set off in search of adventure in 1972 but struck disaster the following year, en route to the Galapagos the whale cracked a hole in their boat's hull, they had time to deploy their 4ft (1.2m) life raft and rescue a small amount of crafted a fishing line, using a safety pin from a first-aid kit and a piece of string, and survived on raw fish, turtles and small also invented card and word games and made dominoes out of scraps of paper, to keep their minds a journalist, came across the Baileys on a website dedicated to castaway stories, and set about researching their journey using Maralyn's diary and books Maurice published after their book won the Nero Book Awards Non-Fiction category in January and has now won the overall Gold Prize for Book of the Year said: "Impressively novelistic in its narrative approach, it is a gripping retelling of a true but forgotten story."It is a story of a marriage as much as of an adventure at sea, one that subtly explores the dynamics of a relationship under the greatest imaginable stress."Elmhirst's writing was "understated but powerful, immersing the reader intimately in the unfolding drama and the horror of struggling to survive against the odds with very few resources", he other judges were novelist Bernardine Evaristo and journalist Emily Maitlis."We unanimously agreed that Maurice and Maralyn is a non-fiction work that reaches the highest literary eminence," Bryson Nero Book Awards are the successors to the Costa Book Awards and were founded in 2023. — BBC
BBC News
05-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Real-life shipwreck story by Sophie Elmhirst wins top prize at Nero Book Awards
The true story of a British couple who spent four months adrift on a life raft in the Pacific Ocean, after their boat was sunk by a whale, has been named the best book of last year at a prestigious and Maralyn: An Extraordinary True Story of Shipwreck, Survival and Love, by Sophie Elmhirst, won the £30,000 Gold Prize at the Nero Book Awards, on tells the story of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey, who sold their Derbyshire bungalow to build a boat and set sail for New Zealand, in 1972, but had to survive at sea for 118 days after it Bill Bryson, who chaired the judges, called it "an enthralling, engrossing story of survival and the resilience of the human spirit". Small sharks The Baileys set off in search of adventure in 1972 but struck disaster the following year, en route to the Galapagos the whale cracked a hole in their boat's hull, they had time to deploy their 4ft (1.2m) life raft and rescue a small amount of crafted a fishing line, using a safety pin from a first-aid kit and a piece of string, and survived on raw fish, turtles and small also invented card and word games and made dominoes out of scraps of paper, to keep their minds occupied. Elmhirst, a journalist, came across the Baileys on a website dedicated to castaway stories, and set about researching their journey using Maralyn's diary and books Maurice published after their book won the Nero Book Awards Non-Fiction category in January and has now won the overall Gold Prize for Book of the Year 2024. 'Unfolding drama' Bryson said: "Impressively novelistic in its narrative approach, it is a gripping retelling of a true but forgotten story."It is a story of a marriage as much as of an adventure at sea, one that subtly explores the dynamics of a relationship under the greatest imaginable stress."Elmhirst's writing was "understated but powerful, immersing the reader intimately in the unfolding drama and the horror of struggling to survive against the odds with very few resources", he other judges were novelist Bernardine Evaristo and journalist Emily Maitlis."We unanimously agreed that Maurice and Maralyn is a non-fiction work that reaches the highest literary eminence," Bryson Nero Book Awards were previously known as the Costa Book Awards. The Nero Book Awards winners:Gold Prize and Non-Fiction: Maurice and Maralyn: An Extraordinary True Story of Shipwreck, Survival and Love, by Sophie ElmhirstFiction: Lost in the Garden, by Adam S LeslieDebut Fiction: Wild Houses, by Colin BarrettChildren's Fiction: The Twelve, by Liz Hyder
