Young Talent 2023 Winners Announced

“The Young Talent category of the EUmies Awards aims to support the talent of recently graduated Architects, Urban Planners and Landscape Architects,” the official statement goes, “who will be responsible for transforming our environment in the future.” The biennial Young Talent award is part of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Awards, organized by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe with the support of the Creative Europe program of the European Union.

Submissions for the 2023 edition came, as in previous iterations, from registered schools in Europe. The jury* determined a shortlist in the spring of this year and the twelve finalists were announced in May, upon the opening of an exhibition at Palazzo Mora, a collateral event of the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale. An event last night at Palazzo Michiel featured a granting ceremony but also debates with the winners, representatives from the European Union, Fundació Mies van der Rohe, ACE-CAE, EAAE, LINA architecture platform, and members of the jury.

The three winners of the Young Talent 2023 (alphabetical by project name):

• “Eden Archipelago” by María de la O Molina Pérez-Tomé (ES: Madrid School of Architecture, Polytechnic University of Madrid)
• “Peripheral Cartographies” by Laura Hurley (IE: School of Engineering and Architecture, SEFS of the University College Cork & Munster Technological University)
• “Valter” by Dinko Jelecevic (AT: Faculty of Architecture, Graz University of Technology)

In addition to the three Young Talent awards for 2023, the Fundació Mies van der Rohe created a parallel award, the Young Talent Open (not funded by the European Union), for schools from the African continent and members of the Council of Europe which are not part of Creative Europe. From among the five finalists announced in May, the winner of the Young Talent Open 2023:

• “Open: Earth Bound” by Shaha Raphael (UK: Architectural Association School of Architecture)

The Young Talent winners receive:

• a trophy, a diploma, and the catalogue
• €5,000 each project
• a profile in World-Architects.com
• visibility through the EUmies Awards Young Talent 2023 exhibition in Venice and universities worldwide
• participation in events such as the LINA architecture platform 
• USM furniture to design their workspace

“Eden Archipelago” by María de la O Molina Pérez-Tomé (Madrid School of Architecture, Polytechnic University of Madrid)

Seed Deposit

We are located in Madrid on the southern slope of the Retiro Park. There we found a nursery-greenhouse for ornamental species with a mixture of sheds. An active place, but not used, since the city council raised a tender in 2019 to carry out works to improve the water supply to these buildings.

More here

“Peripheral Cartographies” by Laura Hurley (School of Engineering and Architecture, SEFS of the University College Cork & Munster Technological University)

Countermapping the Irish Island of Inisbofin

Situated on Inisbofin (or Inis Bó Finne), this project proposes and defines alternate types of maps and ways of practising cartography. The project is formulated around an institution which facilitates a postcolonial re-inscription of the island through a countermapping which is deeply entangled with the cartographies of Tim Robinson.

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“Valter” by Dinko Jelecevic (Faculty of Architecture, Graz University of Technology)

Vraca Forum Sarajevo

VALTER design project proposes a revitalization of a multi-layered historic site in Sarajevo through an adaptive reuse methodology. Used as a fortification, execution site, memorial complex, and military base during four different eras in the 20th century, the site will ultimately take the shape and function of a public-oriented forum typology.

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“Open: Earth Bound” by Shaha Raphael (UK: Architectural Association School of Architecture)

Terre d'origine

Can fostering a relationship between the people and their geology be achieved by developing tools to manipulate earth at the scale of the landscape? Using a cut/fill operation, we can subtract from the earth on site in order to inhabit it and build it up with the excavated material.

More here

• N’Goné Fall, independent curator and cultural policies specialist
• Manuel Henriques, Executive Director at the Lisbon Architecture Triennale
• Jennifer Mack, Associate Professor and Docent at KTH Stockholm
• Simone Sfriso, Cofounder of TAMassociati
• Snežana Vesnić, Assistant Professor at the University of Belgrade - Faculty of Architecture

The EUmies Awards are organized by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe with the support of the Creative Europe program of the European Union. They are organized in partnership with the European Association for Architectural Education (EAAE) and the Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE-CAE); World Architects as a founding partner; the European Cultural Centre as a partner in Venice; sponsored by Jung, Jansen and Regent Lighting; and with the support of USM and Hotel Alma Barcelona.