The National Winners of the IN/ARCHITETTURA 2023 Awards

Today, the awards ceremony for IN/ARCHITETTURA 2023 took place at La Biennale di Venezia, organized by IN/Arch, the Italian National Institute of Architecture, and ANCE, Italian national association of building constructors, in collaboration with Archilovers.

The awards marked the culmination of their event following a tour of the Italian peninsula that touched 12 regional capitals with an equal number of regional award events, during which awards were presented in all 20 Italian regions.

This extensive monitoring of architectural production in Italy over the past 5 years increasingly motivates the organizers to continue promoting architectural quality and, consequently, social, economic, and energy sustainability in our living environments.

"The growing significance of construction quality - between land use, energy efficiency, and minimum environmental criteria - confirms the central role of architecture," stated the Italian Minister of Environment and Energy Security, Hon. Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, in a letter sent on the occasion of the event.

"The 10 award-winning projects do not seek to capture the public's attention with the claim of being the most beautiful in absolute terms, let alone the only deserving ones, among the many realized in Italy in recent years," said IN/Arch President Andrea Margaritelli. "But we are here for a much higher reason: to highlight a selection of projects that, taken together, can be representative and serve as a manifesto to promote the culture of architectural design in our country. This has always been the true nature and deeper meaning of the IN/ARCHITECTURE awards and the reason why IN/Arch and Ance dedicate so much energy to them."

By their nature and structure, "the IN/ARCHITECTURE awards make it clear that the quality of architecture is not limited to aesthetic and linguistic issues but is the result of a complex process that involves all stages of the production chain. That is why the award is a tribute to the work, the result of the perfect synergy between the three main players at its core: the client, the designer, and the builder."

AWARDS FOR THE BEST ARCHITECTURAL WORKS (NEW CONSTRUCTION) 
The national awards for new construction projects have been granted to: RCF Arena  - Reggio Emilia
Client: C.Volo S.p.a
Designers: Iotti + Pavarani Architetti, Tassoni, Studio LSA
Construction company: Nial Nizzoli  Motivation: The project for the transformation of a non-operational airport area in Reggio Emilia - the result of a virtuous partnership between public and private sectors - tackles a new and previously unexplored design theme with particular intelligence and skill: the creation of large open spaces for events and concerts.
The intervention thus becomes an opportunity for landscape design capable of interpreting new ways of inhabiting collective space and providing landscape quality, functionality, and sustainability to a 20-hectare area that can accommodate up to 100,000 people. Through the design of pathways, soil modeling, and the "light and permeable" perimeter of the arena, a genuine territorial-scale regeneration work is realized, shaping a new identity and recognizability for an undefined space.

This project has also been awarded the Special WTW-Willis Towers Watson Prize.  

The Dome. New LUISS University Building - Rome
Client: LUISS Guido Carli
Designers: Alvisi Kirimoto  e Studio Gemma
Construction company: ECOFAST Sistema srl Motivation: The project and its execution professionally meet the commission. The volume, assertive in its geometry, achieves a harmonious balance with the surroundings and vegetation, primarily thanks to a careful selection of materials and colors. The structural solution highlights an unexpected lightness, made even more evident by the transparent surfaces. This building is modern in its sustainability and the flexibility of spaces, designed to meet the new requirements of education.  

SON Cascina San Carlo - Milano
Client: SON Onlus
Designers: B22 - Stefano Tropea con Carlo Venegoni
Construction company: SAPA srl   Motivation: Care and precision, when combined, facilitate the transformation of the farmhouse into a space for social and housing services dedicated to accommodating various vulnerabilities. The newly added structures are designed with careful consideration of both external and internal spatial arrangements, and with details that are simultaneously essential and capable of providing technical efficiency and usability. They also prioritize the protection, autonomy, and independence of the families accommodated here.  

Casa 46  - Ragusa
Client: Flavio Tirrito
Designers: SM-arch architetti associati | Vania Santangelo, Maria Flaccavento, Serafino Sgarlata, Salvatore Ingrao
Construction company: Angelo Giombarresi & C S.n.c. Motivation: The work demonstrates consistency throughout the entire process, from conception to construction, and is the result of an agreement reached between the site, desires, goals, customs, regulations, and budget. The new structure rises discreetly, with clarity and measure, in the surrounding landscape, harnessing its unique features such as changes in elevation, exposed rocks, and existing vegetation, while refraining from making significant alterations to the scene. The project successfully gives contemporary form to both the space and the structural elements, using materials instrumentally as needed. The overall volume, seemingly compact, conceals voids within which inhabited spaces cluster. In use, these spaces, traversed by moving bodies, allow for multidirectional views towards the countryside and the sea.    

La Manufacture - New manufacturing facility for Celine Production in Radda in Chianti (Siena)
Client: Celine Production
Designers: MetroOffice 
Construction company: Ing. Ferrari SpA (general contractor)  

Motivation: La Manufacture is the new Italian production site of the Celine fashion house. Located in Radda in Chianti, nestled in the Tuscan hills whose contours it echoes, it is composed of strict and elegant volumes. The identity of the French fashion house is conveyed through essential design and an extreme focus on the environmental qualities of the region. The jury found MetroOffice Architetti's interpretation of the traditional production facility outside of industrial areas and in contexts of high environmental value, such as the Tuscan landscape, to be interesting. Furthermore, the idea of promoting the workplace as a place of beauty is significant. The large windows frame the vineyard-covered hills, utilizing natural light to provide artisans with a constant visual connection to nature.  

In this category, the jury has also awarded two special mentions to:  
Ring road Bressanone – Varna
Client: Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano
Designers: MoDus Architects e Studio di Ingegneria Valdemarin
Construction company: PAC SPA

Motivation: The project for the new Bressanone Varna bypass represents a virtuous example of integration between architecture and large infrastructure interventions. The design of road tunnel portals, retaining walls, ventilation chimneys, and signage offers new quality solutions to the relationship between infrastructure, landscape, and urban decor. A civil engineering project thus becomes an opportunity for the requalification of the territory: the strictly technical-functional vocabulary of the infrastructure project finds new meanings and values in the re-interpretive capacity of design.  

Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Aquileia
Client: MiBACT Polo Museale del Friuli Venezia Giulia
Designers: GNOSIS progetti società cooperativa 
Construction company: Impresa De Marco

Motivation: The intervention of the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia is the result of a skillful design of spaces and paths that connect the pre-existing with the new, resulting in a seamless journey. It also creates the right architectural conditions for the proper enjoyment and preservation of an important heritage.   Learning from history is a cultural and social necessity more than just an educational one. Architecture can provide the key to facilitate access to it or make it even more difficult and challenging.   The impression here is that the design has successfully implemented the former of the two paths, applying simplicity and effectiveness with control. The important theme of protecting and promoting archaeological heritage (as well as materials and traditional construction techniques) is explicitly addressed and well resolved, including a consideration of the existing structure and its adaptation. The project of the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia answers this call with a respectful and impactful intervention, placing architecture at the service of the content while maintaining its own identity.

FEDERBETON SPECIAL PRIZE  
Digital Innovation Gate 421 – Roreto di Cherasco (CN)
Client: Tesisquare SPA
Designers: Nemesi 
Construction company: Fratelli Sartore  

Motivation: The Nemesi Architects studio, led by Michele Molè and Susanna Tradati and based in Rome, has always preferred concrete when it comes to creating new forms that anticipate the future (who can forget the stunning use of hyper-technological concrete in the Italy Pavilion at the 2015 Milan Expo?). The awarded work - the Digital Innovation Gate 421 of the IT company Tesisquare in Cherasco, in the province of Cuneo - is considered the first Open Innovation hub in Piedmont: it is a hub where multiple non-competing companies can collaborate alongside startups and university research projects in a cross-fertilizing manner. The architecture enhances this new concept of collaborative development and creates an "innovation village" with flexible modular volumes set on an exposed concrete grid, and integrated services distributed throughout the area, including small squares and pedestrian paths, achieving new sustainability standards.  

AWARD FOR THE BEST REQUALIFICATION PROJECTS OF EXISTING BUILDING HERITAGE (restoration, renovation, regeneration)

The national awards in the category of building requalification projects (restoration, renovation, regeneration) have been presented to:  

Nuova sede della Procura della Repubblica di Catanzaro nell'ex Ospedale Militare
New headquarters of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Catanzaro in the former Military Hospital
Client: Agenzia del Demanio – Direzione Generale Calabria
Designers: CORVINO+MULTARI (Vincenzo Corvino, Giovanni Multari)
Construction company: Costruzioni Edili 2001 e Sami  

Motivation: The restoration, conservative rehabilitation, and refunctionalization with expansion of the former Military Hospital in the city is the realization of an institutional synergy between the Ministry of Justice and the Municipality of Catanzaro. Of particular importance is the careful preservation of the building in line with the original design and the meticulous work of reading and interpreting the entire complex. The design of the new courtyard building, whose typology is a reference to the conventual structure of the historic building complex, is characterized by a transparent envelope on all four sides, which, thanks to the rooftop garden, discreetly integrates into the skyline of the existing terraces.      

Fellini Museum - Rimini
Client: Comune di Rimini
Designers: Orazio Carpenzano
Makers: Lancia srl, Aplomb, Civita Laboratori Fiorentini, ETT e Gruppo Maggioli

 
Motivation: Federico Fellini finally has his museum in "his" Rimini; a widespread museum, just as his cinematic aesthetics are "pulviscolare," never abandoning its local traits but never renouncing the ability to speak to the world. A hub spread across three spaces: Castel Sismondo, Palazzo del Fulgor, and Piazza Malatesta. A museum that goes beyond the museum, at the center of which the legendary Fulgor cinema, an absolute protagonist of Amarcord, takes the lead. An immersive museum that reclaims existing settlements, from the Rocca di Castel Sismondo, where Filippo Brunelleschi collaborated, to the grand Piazza Malatesta, as if it were an enormous open-air circus.

The authors, Orazio Carpenzano, with the ADTP studio (Tommaso Pallaria and Alessandra Di Giacomo), and the dismisura studio (Fabio Balducci and Paolo Marcoaldi) for the architectural project; the curators Marco Bertozzi and Anna Villari, with the fundamental contribution of Studio Azzurro for artistic direction and the conception of the multimedia project, represent a consistent and professionally high-quality example when dealing with artists like Fellini, who are not just representatives of a discipline but true multidisciplinary encyclopedias whose worldview extends beyond their time.
This serves as proof that architecture is never self-sufficient; while it is certainly central to regenerative restoration, it must engage in dialogue with all those disciplines and knowledge capable of giving voice to an ancient monument, a disused cinema, or a large city square. This is how urban complexity should be designed, in relation to the themes of regeneration and intended use.

Riqualificazione architettonica e funzionale del Capannone 18 nell’area Ex “Officine Reggiane”
Renovation of Building 18 in the former 'Officine Reggiane' area in Reggio Emilia
Client: STU Reggiane spa
Designers: andrea oliva
Construction company: Allodi srl  

Motivation: Industrial memory is interpreted by highlighting the relationship between the existing, reduced to its essence, and the updating of the concept of industrial research laboratories. Forms of reuse repopulate the disuse of former workshops, activating connections between full and empty spaces, interiors and exteriors, which lead to a synergistic landscape between the idea of recovery and structural consolidation, between a system of covered and open squares, and those who traverse them.  

Riqualificazione dell'Area Ex Dufour a Genova Cornigliano
Redevelopment of the Former Dufour Area in Genoa Cornigliano
Client: Società per Cornigliano
Designers: Dodi Moss
Construction company: ATI Lumode e Innovazione Caudina  

Motivation: The demolition and reconstruction with expansion project, included in the "Integrated Urban Redevelopment Program of Cornigliano" in Genoa, represents a virtuous example of urban regeneration. It pays careful attention to the language of the pre-existing industrial structures while reinterpreting them in a contemporary context through the elegant articulation of volumes, the interplay between opacity and transparency, and the use of highly performance-oriented technologies and materials. This architecture is open to the city and for the city, thanks to the design of open external spaces accessible to the neighborhood.  

Gallerie d'Italia - Torino

Client: Intesa San Paolo
Designers: AMDL CIRCLE | Michele De Lucchi

Construction company: Ediltecno Restauri

Motivation: The AMDL CIRCLE project for the Gallerie d'Italia in Turin represents another chapter in a long journey through Italy, transforming former bank spaces into environments dedicated to exhibition and cultural activities. This chapter is dedicated to photography, which, as Michele De Lucchi states, "is the most contemporary tool for analyzing reality, events, and constructing a dynamic memory that fosters an understanding of the future. A place dedicated to photography is, above all, a space for discussing contemporaneity."   Consistently, the design choices that unfold in all areas of the pre-existing palace, including the underground spaces, carve out a "stage" for photographic documentation, integrated with respect to the previous history. Crucial to this is the invention of the immense staircase, carved into the current courtyard, not only as a source of light but especially as an unprecedented vantage point; an original aesthetic experience.   This is not just a restoration project; it regenerates the memory of an activity rooted in our country's history to provide society with knowledge and experiences capable of opening new paths of understanding for every citizen. 

The SPECIAL MENTION in this category has been awarded to:  

The restoration of Villa La Saracena designed by Luigi Moretti in 1955/58 in Santa Marinella - Rome.
Client: Eleonora Cecconi
Designers: paolo verdeschi con Flavio Fiorucci, Giulio Valerio Mancini e Giulia Seppiacci
Construction company: Edilperfect e Luca Foschi opere in ferro  

Motivation: The Villa, built between 1955 and 1958, was designed by architect Luigi Moretti and designated as a monumental heritage site in 2010. The profound understanding of Moretti's work, the precision in studying the structure, the meticulousness in planning the restoration, ranging from securing the deteriorating structure to analyzing the stratigraphy of plasters and paintwork, and the restoration of the flooring, all make this "modern restoration" project a cultural, design, and implementation model.   The goal of returning La Saracena, one of the iconic works of Italian architecture from the second half of the twentieth century, to its original state is fully achieved.  

LISTONE GIORDANO SPECIAL PRIZE

Casa DICA - Roma
Client: Camilla Castroni e Leonardo Di Vincenzo
Designers: b15a architettura (Andrea Desideri, Silvia Guzzini)
Makers: Fastedil, Vetroferr sas, Falegnameria Frezzini, O.H.M. srl, Morgante Iolanda srl  

Motivation: The choice was motivated by the architects' ability to tackle the renovation of a three-level apartment within a 20th-century architectural masterpiece. This goal was pursued through a design method that balances the restoration of the original elements with the new requirements of the contemporary project, thanks in part to consulting archival documentation. The application of walnut wood flooring, with its strong character and high visual impact, is an integral and co-protagonist of the new contemporary aesthetic of the interiors.  

MORE THE WELLBEING SPECIAL PRIZE

Attico L – Milano
Client: Sig.ra Luisa Ranno
Designers: Marco Carini
Construction company: Meridionale Impianti S.P.A.  

Motivation: Sometimes, pre-defined structural and technical choices prevent the use of a logical solution for heating, such as a radiant floor heating system. This was the case for this space connected to the sky, located in a late 19th-century building in Milan. However, a visit to the already open construction site, together with the homeowners, on a clear winter day, made it clear that the solution lay in embracing nature, in listening to the pleasure of the body enveloped by the sun's rays. The MORE PAD INDOOR electric radiant system, concealed in the false ceiling, was used to heat both levels of the residence, ensuring natural well-being. Additionally, the MORE PAD HV system was installed as an integration to the existing heating system and as invisible thermal furniture, seamlessly integrated into the architectural environment. Nothing disturbs the silence and discreet elegance of the formal style chosen for the house. The motivation for awarding this special prize is therefore manifold and reflects a series of significant factors: innovation, comfort, well-being, high efficiency, energy savings, and, last but not least, architectural and structural integrability. In conclusion, the project ATTICO L. by Architect Marco Carini strongly emphasizes the importance of living comfort, with a focus on placing the individual at the center, values that MORE embodies.  

SPECIAL AWARD FOR SOLAR ARCHITECTURE IN PRESTIGIOUS CONTEXTS
The Special Award for Solar Architecture in historical and landscape contexts, within the European project "BIPV meets history," has been awarded to:

Impianto fotovoltaico BIPV su dimora storica
BIPV Photovoltaic System on a Historic Residence, Montecrestese (Verbano)
Client: Simona Rizzi
Designers: Sofia Tiozzo Pezzoli (GruppoSTG Fabbrica srl)
Construction company: GruppoSTG Fabbrica srl  

Motivation: This project stands out for its excellent integration of the photovoltaic system, demonstrating a significant sensitivity and respect for the building, its material, and the context in which it is situated. The use of the photovoltaic system as a replacement for the roofing material aligns with the principles of integration, and the use of photovoltaic cells without metallic edges contributes to making the intervention as camouflaged as possible. Noteworthy is also the attention to detail, with the use of copper finishes on the roof edges that, as they naturally oxidize, will give the work an increasingly harmonious aesthetic character with the historic material. The choice to position the solar panels on the less visible and sunnier slopes of the building is also appreciated.   The project is an excellent example of how it is possible to combine the principles of energy efficiency with the preservation of historical and architectural heritage. It represents a valid and replicable solution to promote the use of renewable sources without compromising the integrity of the context.    

"BRUNO ZEVI AWARD" FOR THE PROMOTION OF ARCHITECTURAL CULTURE 2023
The "Bruno Zevi Award" for the promotion of architectural culture has been presented to Editoriale Lotus, a publishing house well-known for its publication of the eponymous magazine, led by Pierluigi Nicolin, who, since 1974, transformed an architectural review into a bilingual thematic periodical published in both Italian and English. Over the years, Editoriale Lotus has evolved from an architectural review into an open platform for diverse perspectives. With the Lotus magazine, Italian architecture has assumed a prominent role in the international discourse, engaging in a broad reflection on key architectural concepts through the contributions of selected notable figures. In this manner, over the past few decades, an entire generation of Italian architects has been able to develop their ideas in direct dialogue with design proposals and reflections from key figures in contemporary architectural discourse. Through Lotus, Pierluigi Nicolin has effectively "designed" his most significant architectural work by allowing Italian culture to enter the global discourse. He has never forgotten that it is in dialogue with all other disciplines, especially the so-called "applied arts" and beyond, that new ideas and innovative "compositional" paths can be nurtured. Architecture remains at the core, always mindful of the relationship between "the part and the whole," between "thought and action." Lotus is, in every sense, a grand architectural project, not just a magazine.  

CAREER AWARD 2023
The Career Award for 2023 has been awarded for the first time in its history to a non-Italian architect, Emilio Ambasz .  
E. Ambasz, photo by Wade Zimmerman

Motivation: A cosmopolitan architect, born in Argentina in 1943, internationally renowned for his design perspective, and Italian in terms of his association with our country, as he had a studio in Bologna for many years, collaborating with companies, local institutions, public and private clients. He has always placed a concrete notion of nature at the center of his work, devoid of ideology and escapism, instead operating in the realm of "making architecture" by prioritizing an attitude he himself described as "green over gray." In other words, he incorporated "architecture and plants" as far back as the 1970s, without grand declarations but with rational connections between "nature and artifice." Examples of this constructive approach are the Hospital of the Angel and the Banca degli Occhi Foundation in Mestre (2007-2008), along with the Acros Fukuoka project in Japan.   He was the first major ambassador of Made in Italy with the landmark exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in 1972, titled "Italy: The New Domestic Landscape." This was the first true introduction of Italian identity to the United States and beyond, encompassing everything from cityscapes and objects to homes and automobiles. It provided young talents from our country with an extraordinary stage. Emilio Ambasz, in line with his programmatic statement, "every act of construction is a challenge to nature," recently donated $10 million to MoMA for the establishment of the "Emilio Ambasz Research Institute," dedicated to the interaction between nature and architecture. The first concrete initiative is the large exhibition "Emerging Ecologies," currently on display at MoMA, dedicated to architect-artists, those who, according to Ambasz, "create new models and culture." This, too, reflects an Italian perspective, particularly with origins in the Renaissance.   Ambasz, who will receive another honorary degree from a prestigious Italian university in the coming weeks, commented as follows: "I am deeply moved by this generous recognition. To be the first foreigner to receive this important award is a great honor. We must invent an architecture that embodies a pact of reconciliation between nature and the built environment. As architects and designers, we must create alternative models of the future, proposing a better life to guide our actions if we do not wish to perpetuate current conditions. I believe it is unethical for any architectural project not to attempt to propose new or better ways of existence. This task can challenge the imagination and paralyze hope, but we cannot shirk from its pursuit."  

>> All National Awards