Bergmeisterwolf named “Italian Architect of 2019”

The CNAPPC awards were announced during the Festa dell’Architetto 2019 in Venice, with the success of Gerd Bergmeister and Michaela Wolf’s firm, while the award as “Young Talent in Italian Architecture” was presented to BDR Bureau

On the occasion of the Festa dell’Architetto 2019, which was held on November 15 and 16 at the Biennale di Venezia, the CNAPPC announced the awards for “Italian Architect” and “Young Talent in Italian Architecture”, as well as various honorable mentions.  

As stated in the text of the competition launched by the CNAPPC: «”good” architects should be rewarded because with their works they contribute to improving the life of individuals and communities, while showing, at the same time, how architecture, by giving shape to the places where all citizens live, is a common good and thus has a political significance.»

Festa dell’Architetto 2019

The National Council of Architects, Planners, Landscape Architects and Conservationists (CNAPPC) along with the territorial Professional Associations, selected the most outstanding projects on the Italian scene, among numerous candidates. The broader goals was to suggest a reflection on the transformation of the territory through design and the valorization of buildings that were capable of addressing contemporary challenges with an innovative approach. 

A year ago Isplora’s editorial staff had talked about the 6th edition when awards were presented to MAP studio and the Orizzontale collective, the latter in the “Young Architects” category.

This year the prestigious award for “Italian Architect 2019” was given to Bergmeisterwolf architekten, the firm of architects Gerd Bergmeister and Michaela Wolf, while the Turin firm BDR Bureau was named “Young Talent in Italian Architecture 2019”. The jury, presided over by Winy Maas, founder of the firm MVRDV and guest editor of Domus for 2019, presented the award for “Italian Architect” to the Hotel Belvedere in San Genesio (Bolzano), a new building by Bergmeisterwolf Architekten, as it “responds to its setting with a focus on the choice of materials and a bold formal solution”.

Bergmeisterwolf Architekten's Projects

Hotel Belvedere, San Genesio, Italy - photo by Gustav Willeit

The firm, founded by Gerd Bergmeister and Michaela Wolf and with offices in Bressanone and Rosenheim, is characterized by its great design attention to the context and its dialogue with the settings, by means of a wise use of materials, forms and the layout of spaces. A meticulous project that emerges from the rock, as in the case of the Hotel Belvedere, or from a grassy slope, as in the case of the Hotel Pacherhof.

Hotel Pacherhof, Varna, Italy - photo by Gustav Willeit

If in the Hotel Belvedere the new form bends itself following the contours, opening up where it is in contact with the rock, in this case a series of historical underground wine cellars emerges from the ground to design a new form which is in contrast, with its bronze panels, to the peaks of the surrounding landscape.

Enrico Fermi School by BDR Bureau

Enrico Fermi School, Turin, Italy - photo by Simone Bossi

A different perspective can be found in the restoration project for the Enrico Fermi School, the result of the initiative “Torino Fa Scuola” of Fondazione Agnelli and Compagnia di San Paolo, by the firm BDR Bureau. The restoration work presented with the prize for “Young Talent in Italian Architecture” consists, in fact, of different elements that reinterpret the existing building, rethinking the dialogue between its educational function and the city. The firm of architects Alberto Bottero and Simona Della Rocca seems to trace a possible way to work on pre-existing structures, a “didactic” and open model, starting from the study of uses and the new needs of users.

Enrico Fermi School, Turin, Italy - photo by Simone Bossi

Cover photo: Hotel Pacherhof - photo by Gustav Willeit