International 2024 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 three years that followed, a sports hall in Budapest, Covering the Remains of the Church of St. John the Baptist in the Žiče Charterhouse, and the Revitalization of Old Glassworks and Surrounding Urban Areas in Old Town of Ptuj 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-two architectural projects were nominated for the 2024 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, two honorable mentions, and a student honorable mention are below.

Meeting on November 22, the jury determined that the winner of the International 2024 Piranesi Award is Temporary spaces for Slovene National Theatre Drama Ljubljana, located in the capital of Slovenia. The project, completed just this fall, was designed by Vidic Grohar arhitekti, founded by Jure Grohar and Anja Vidic in Ljubljana in 2012.

The temporary home for the Slovenian National Theatre (SNG) Drama Ljubljana is located at Litostrojska Street 56 in Ljubljana's Šiška district, in an industrial building from the 1960s that was previously turned into an event space. The temporary space was needed while SNG's historic building in the city center undergoes renovation. Although the L56 building, as it's referred, required a new roof, most interventions by Vidic Grohar arhitekti were either cosmetic or focused on the interiors, such as removing old plaster and painting the walls outside, and adding nine objects (bar, toilets, backstage, etc.) inside. 

“The jury recognizes a very convincing transformation of the existing architectural structure of the industrial hall from the 1960s into temporary spaces for the Slovene National Theatre Drama,” per an award statement. “Contemporary needs of the theater are resolved by structure in space with light constructive interventions incorporating fine detailing. The contrast between the rough existing structures and the elegantly placed temporary interventions form a homogeneous new unit out of different architectonic sequences.”

Two honorable mentions were also decided, including Wienerwaldgymnasium Tullnerbach in Tullnerback, Austria, by Vienna's fasch&fuchs.architekten, completed in 2023. The jury wrote: “The modularity, obviously referring to the language of modernism, structures the functional areas within the footprint of the school in a very convincing way. Additionally, this strategy has also the benefit to successfully anchor the building to its surrounding. In this sense the shape of the building offers a remarkable number of terraces on the outside and at the same time creates a very atmospheric and open access area.”

The other honorable mention is the Piazza Cortevecchia in the historic center of Ferrara in Ferrara, Italy, carried out by the architects at INOUT architettura, based in Ferrara. The jury's comments: “The balance between the landscaping and the urban character of the site with the complexity of the archeological demands are solved very well with the decision of raising up the trees. The raster topography gives a structure and opens opportunities for various functions on the square. The use of traditional material and technique enters into a dialogue with the historical city of Ferrara. Last but not least the jury appreciates the focused use of the rainwater.”

Lastly, one student honorable mention was selected from the 42 students projects nominated by 21 European schools of architecture from Spittal, Vienna, Banja Luka, Sarajevo, Split, Zagreb, Thessaloniki, Budapest, Ferrara, Pescara, Trieste, Vaduz, Podgorica, Belgrade, Kragujevac, Novi Sad, Bratislava, Ljubljana, Maribor, Lucerne, and London. The jury selected Landscapes of New Habits, a project designed by Luka Mijatović, a student in Belgrade, Serbia, under associate professor Zoran Abadić and teaching assistant Dr. Jelena Bogosavljević. 

The jury's comments: “The ability to resolve fundamental architectonical questions on the large scale of a master plan was appreciated by the jury to a high extent. In particular the new vision of a public realm by putting nature and built environment in a well balanced relation was noticed as a strong quality of the project. The mature use of pure geometric forms, in order to negotiate the above mentioned aspects, explodes the well known patterns of streets and squares, creating a new vision for urbanity.”