Prizes at the International Architecture Exhibition in Venice

The official prizes for best national participation and best participant in the Reporting From The Front exhibition, along with a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement presented to Brazilian architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha, announced previously, were presented on the opening day of the 15th International Architecture Exhibition directed by curator Alejandro Aravena at Ca’ Giustinian, the historic seat of the Biennale di Venezia.

An international panel of judges composed of Hashim Sarkis (Chairman of the Jury, Lebanon, USA), Pippo Ciorra (Italy), Sergio Fajardo (Colombia), Marisa Moreira Salles (Brazil), and Karen Stein (USA), awarded the Golden Lion for the Best National Participation to Spain.
The Spanish Pavilion in the Biennale Gardens presents 'a vast selection of projects by emerging architects, appreciated by the judges for their ability to demonstrate that hard work and creativity can go beyond the limits of materials and context". The first special mention for national participation was presented to Japan - 'Art of nexus", and the second to Peru - "Our Amazon Frontline", which views architecture as a way of protecting Amazon cultures.

The Golden Lion for the Best Participant in Reporting From The Front was awarded to Gabinete de Arquitectura (Solano Benítez; Gloria Cabral; Solanito Benítez), which uses local materials, simple structures and unskilled labour to bring architecture to communities that did not benefit from it in the past. The Silver Lion awarded to a promising young participant went to NLÉ (Kunlé Adeyemi), with a special mention for Italian architect Maria Giuseppina Grasso Cannizzo.

(Agnese Bifulco)

15th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, REPORTING FROM THE FRONT
http://www.labiennale.org/it/architettura/

Images courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia
photos by: Andrea Avezzù, Francesco Galli, Jacopo Salvi

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