The names of the winners of the ninth edition of the international architectural competition Grand Prix, sponsored and organized by Casalgrande Padana have been announced. Grand Prix was established in 1990 with the primary goal of selecting and rewarding the most significant work which was capable of best exploiting the technical and expressive potential of the Casalgrande Padana porcelain elements. Through this initiative, the company wanted to promote a contest in which ceramics highlights its flexibility and versatility, in various fields of construction work. A contest in which the tile is not revealed on the basis of the project, but becomes the protagonist.
As witness of the growing dissemination and use of ceramic materials in the construction industry, the 2010-2012 edition was attended by over 250 designers from all over the world. “The architectural landscape emerging clearly again in this year's competition effectively underlines not only the intrinsic properties of porcelain stoneware, but above all its ability to continually evolve to meet different needs in the fields of intervention, in execution techniques and methods of interpretation by the designers. Grand Prix has accompanied this evolution process of the product and its applications in the field of architecture for over twenty years, confirming its international vocation.”
The jury, chaired by Franco Manfredini, Casalgrande's CEO, has identified the most deserving and has assigned the three prizes to each category and the special mentions. The following designers were selected divided into various categories of intervention:
Shopping and business centres (large areas)
- Design International/Corvino + Multari - Shopping Centre 'La Cartiera', Pompeii, Naples (I);
- CST, architect Graziano Facchini - Shopping Centre 'Città dei Templi', Agrigento (I);
- Design and Construction company, architect Nagrebel'nyy Sergey Vladimirovich - Shopping Centre Yekaterinburg (RUS).
Public buildings and services, industrial building, other
- Bamberg Architecture, architect Thomas Bamberg - Church Sunnenbuhl (D);
- Agencja Projectowa “Architectura” - Jasionka Airport, Rzeszow (PL);
- Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas – Lycée Georges Frêche, Montpellier ( F);
- Kammerl+Kollegen, architect Eik Kammerl – New Metro Station, Aschaffenburg (D);
- Andrea Mambriani - Cedacri Group Headquarter, Collecchio, Parma (I);
- Strabag Architectural Group, architect Valeria Shubina - Theological Seminary, Kolomna (RUS).
Residential building
- Artadi Arquitectos, architect Javier Artadi - Las Palmeras House, Lima (PE);
- Alain Demarquette - Private Houses Merignies (F) - Private Houses, Cambrai ( F);
- Louis Phillips Architects and Associates, architect Luis Phillips - Pearl Valley Golf Estate, Paarl (ZA);
- Archengine, architect Justin Quinlan - Small Residences, Griffith ( AUS).
Façade coverings and exterior floorings
- Studio di Architettura Anselmi & Associati – Parish Complex of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, Rome (I);
- Silvio D'Ascia Atelier D'Architecture / Ati Servizi Integrati – LA PORTA DEL PARCO, Bagnoli, Naples (I);
- 5+1 AA Alfonso Femia, Gianluca Peluffo - Le Officine “Ex Metalmetron” Savona (I);
- Atelier Traldi, architect Alessandro Traldi - New school complex, Massalengo, Lodi (I).
Swimming pools
- Marco Ciarlo and Fabio Fabiano Architects - Swimming Pool, Savona (I);
- 3 A, architect Jean Luc Roussel - Swimming Pool Leffrinckoucke (F);
- SAREA Alain Sarfati Architecture, architect Alain Sarfati - “Aqua Leisure Center in Val de Scarpe”, Arras (F).
The prizes for the 2010-2012 Grand Prix will be awarded during a ceremony of honour, which will take place on May 11th in Milan, at the CityLife space, during which there will be a keynote address by architect Daniel Libeskind.
The event will also be the occasion to officially launch the tenth edition of the Grand Prix.
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