A jury of Italian architects and critics has chosen 132 projects from 43 countries as winners of the 2016 International Architecture Awards. Organized by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies, the awards honor work that spans residential, commercial, landscape architecture and new buildings, among other projects, and this year’s winners include Zaha Hadid Architects, HOK, Toyo Ito & Associates, Safdie Architects, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Pininfarina and more.
“This year’s awarded projects address critical architecture and planning concerns for advanced postindustrial cities and Third World communities alike, in a way to imagine the possibilities for the future restoration and renovation of deteriorating downtown cores, depressed neighborhoods, and humanistic alternatives for derelict neighborhoods," Chicago Athenaeum Museum president Christian Narkiewicz-Laine tells Interior Design.
He continues, “These projects awarded by the Italian jury speak about invigorated cities and city centers, the creation of domestic environments and public spaces that restore dignity to a population while offering universal space for the balanced encounter between two apparently irreconcilable worlds. These projects are at the front line and have worldwide implications that challenge us in the way we see our world.”
The Istanbul Design Biennial, starting this October, will host an exhibition of the winners’ work. The work can also be seen in the catalog Global Design + Urbanism XVI (“New International Architecture”), edited by Narkiewicz-Laine for Metropolitan Arts Press.
