International 2023 Piranesi Award

The Piranesi Awards have been conferred annually since 1989, with a one-year gap in 2020 caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In the two years that followed, a sports hall in Budapest and Covering the Remains of the Church of St. John the Baptist in the Žiče Charterhouse won the top awards. This year, as in previous years, the awards again focus on projects nominated from nearly a dozen European countries: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

Fifty architectural projects were nominated for the 2023 Piranesi Award, with the members of the jury* taking a number of criteria into consideration, including: consideration of context; innovative spatial plan and layout; a respectful approach to natural and cultural heritage; innovative details; and a considered use of color, materials, light, and texture. Details on the winner, the two honorable mentions, and a student honorable mention are below.

The jury determined the winner of the International 2023 Piranesi Award is Revitalization of Old Glassworks and Surrounding Urban Areas in Old Town of Ptuj, located in Ptuj, Slovenia. The project, completed in 2023, was designed by Ljubljana's ELEMENTARNA (Matevž Zalar, Ambrož Bartol, Dominik Košak, Miha Munda, Rok Staudacher, Samo Kralj) with landscape design by Kolektiv Tektonika (Darja Matjašec, Pia Kante, Katja Mali), also from Llubljana.

The project, decided in a 2020 competition, consists of the renovation of the Old Glassworks in the center of Ptuj, a town in northeastern Slovenia, as well as a rethinking of the adjoining streets and squares. “The new intervention transcends mere physical alterations,” the designers explain for the EUmies Awards-nominated project, “as its goal is to revitalize the very spirit of Ptuj's historic old town, ensuring its enduring relevance as a cultural focal point.” Programmatically, the Old Glassworks is now the setting for a cultural center with interior and exterior spaces for multipurpose events.

“We recognize that the reuse of existing buildings is central to architectural culture because it shows both respect for the environment and historical continuity,” the jury said in its statement. “This project subtly stitches together a piece of urban fabric, keeping it relevant by bringing old buildings into new public uses. It has a wonderful atmosphere, integrating new elements and old with poetic conviction.”

Two honorable mentions were also decided, including Rivus Vivere | Urban Building Block Breitenfurter Straße in Vienna by PPAG architects (Anna Popelka, Georg Poduschka), completed in 2023. The jury called it “an ambitious large-scale project” that “creates high-density housing while keeping the character of a city neighborhood.” Due to the way the project “makes intimate shared courtyards with different layers of privacy,” the jury further commended “the exploration of different living typologies in a major project of this kind.”

The other honorable mention is the Bohinj Kindergarten in Bohinj, Slovenia, carried out by the architects at Arrea arhitektura (Ana Jerman, Janja Šušnjar) and KAL A (Sofía Romeo Gurrea-Nozaleda, Miguel Sotos Fernández-Zúñiga), with landscape design by AKKA (Luka Javornik, Lara Gligić). Like the other projects above, the school was completed in 2023. “This project is about doing an ordinary thing well,” said the jury, who “enjoyed the linear sequence of open spaces framed loosely by buildings. This allows easy interaction between children. The wooden construction was clear and well articulated. It seems like a village made from a collection of buildings that feel like home.”

Lastly, one student honorable mention was selected from the 37 students projects nominated by 19 European schools of architecture from Spittal, Banja Luka, Mostar, Sarajevo, Zagreb, Split, Thessaloniki, Budapest, Ferrara, Pescara, Trieste, Podgorica, Bratislava, Ljubljana, Maribor, Belgrade, Kragujevac, Novi Sad, and AA London. The jury selected Biological Corridor of Plitvica River, a project designed by Croatian student Matija Cepanec under Lea Pelivan. “Architecture can be embodied in the creation of a landscape,” the jury said in its statement. “This linear organic system can facilitate biodiverse connections. It operates as a resource to temper the cycle of climate variation by absorbing sudden changes. It also connects different places using a structured natural habitat.”