The International Architecture Award 2012 goes to Turin

“This international recognition makes me proud and I'm delighted.” This is the comment of the Mayor, Piero Fassino, on learning the news of Turin winning The International Architecture Award 2012 for Latz+Partner and STS Spa's Parco Dora alla Spina 3 project “Besides being a very positive signal coming from the world of design and architecture - continued Fassino – this is confirmation that the enormous work of urban renewal has been inspired by a great vision and that urban conversion of Turin has significantly increased its number of parks and the high environmental quality of areas restored to the City.”

The International Architecture Award is one of the most important awards in urban planning with particular attention to the value of “good design”, innovation, use of new materials and attention to environmental impact.

“We greeted the news of the International Architecture Award going to Parco Dora project with great enthusiasm. In this area – commented the Environment Councillor Enzo Lavolta – there has been a careful recovery of industrial structures. In the Park there are spaces dedicated to the industrial archaeology, which refer us to the recent history of our city, with green areas and spaces freely accessible to the citizens. The actions undertaken are certainly characterized by innovation and applying technology, two aspects which Turin is looking very carefully at”.

Parco Dora Spina 3 represents one of the most significant urban transformation works in recent years, characterized by a profile of urban and environmental excellence. This area, covering over 2 million square meters and now nearing completion, is the work of a multidisciplinary team skilled in transforming the landscape of brownfields (abandoned industrial areas), selected by an international tender in which landscape architects like Latz, lighting designers, artists, structural engineers and experts of industrial archaeology were involved.

The park, which covers a total of 450,000 square meters, is divided into five main areas (Ingest 47,000 sq m, Vitali 73,000 sq m, C.so Mortara 87,000 sq m, Michelin 87,000 sq m, Valdocco Nord 73,000 sqm, plus other areas excluded from the quoted assignment), each with unique characteristics and different types of vocations. The themes pursued by the project relate to three main aspects: visual and functional integration of the park with the river, the aesthetic and functional transformation of pre-existing industrial elements, the urban connection.

This year a record number of projects competed, coming from the most important design firms globally: 81 projects were presented coming from 28 countries. The International Architecture Award is given annually by the Chicago Athenaeum - Museum of Architecture and Design, one of the most influential International Architecture and Design museums. Founded in 1988, it is dedicated to all the areas ranging from architecture to industry, from product design to graphic design and urban planning.