Twelve editions. Nearly 30 years of history. More than 1800 projects entered by 1300 designers from all over the world. The Grand Prix is a competition designed to identify the most significant works in the architectural world that skillfully combine technical properties with creative application, making the company’s porcelain stoneware tiles an essential element of their design. It’s about showcasing projects where these products are a vital part of the design process and not simply a covering material that could be replaced by another.
The competition focuses on a selection of actual buildings rather than design ideas. As a result, it serves as a tangible comparison of ideas that have been followed through, taking into account a wide range of types of architecture.
The panel and the Grand Prix XII (2019/2021) awards
The quality of the works entered for the various editions of the Casalgrande Padana Grand Prix has always been reflected by the prestige of the locations chosen for the award ceremonies that crown the winners in the four competition categories:
– Headquarters and shopping malls,
large surfaces
– Public, service and industrial construction
– Residential buildings
– Façade cladding and outside flooring, with the addition of the complementary Swimming Pool section
The award ceremony took place on 27 May at MUDEC, the Museum of Cultures in Milan.
HEADQUARTERS AND SHOPPING MALLS, LARGE SURFACES
FIRST PRIZE: Associated Press Headquarters New York City, USA
Designer TPG Architecture
The black and white tones used for the ceramic coverings of the interiors highlight spaces and pathways that make up a linear, attentive, carefully calibrated design philosophy that engages closely with the architecture of the building occupied by the workspace. The contrast struck by the black and white tells the story of the settings, shaping a direct interaction with the colours of the newsprint and illustrating the daily efforts of the journalists whose job it is to transmit information.
SECOND PRIZE: Experimenta Science Centre Heilbronn, Germany
Designer Sauerbruch Hutton
THIRD PRIZE: Angelini Headquarters Rome, Italy
Designer Studio Transit
SPECIAL MENTION: Dekada Shopping Centre Nysa, Poland
Designer Piotr Bury, JSK Architekci
SPECIAL MENTION: Market Hall of Oulu Oulu, Finland
Designer Weikko Kotila, Laatio Architects
PUBLIC, SERVICE AND INDUSTRIAL CONSTRUCTION
FIRST PRIZE: Szent Gellèrt school Budapest, Hungary
Designer Csilla Kutlik, Árkád-Terv
Part of a project for the renovation of a historical building, the new flooring, composed of pastel-coloured tiles, emerges from the white and neutral background of the interiors to take on a key role. The new take on the laying design dictated by the attention paid to the original pattern teams with the contemporary approach to slot seamlessly and attractively into a construction from the past. The coloured flooring indicates the various pathways, acting as a design element that teaches the school’s young pupils to appreciate beauty.
SECOND PRIZE: Buza gelato gallery Tel Aviv, Israel
Designer Simon Barazin, Jonathan Canetti
THIRD PRIZE: The Aga Khan University Karachi, Pakistan
Designer Princess Zahra Pavilion, Aga Khan University
SPECIAL MENTION: Nuovo Complesso Parrocchiale “Resurrezione di ns. Signore”
Varignano, Viareggio, Italy
Designer TAMassociati
SPECIAL MENTION: Lycée Simone Veil Liffré, France
Designer Pierre Chomette, Chomette-Lupi et Associés Architectes,
Philippe Loyer, Atelier Loyer Architects
SPECIAL MENTION: Room XIX at the United Nations in Geneva Geneva, Switzerland
Designer Giampiero Peia, Peia Associati
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
FIRST PRIZE: Una piscina nel paesaggio Catania, Italy
Designer Augusto Ortoleva, Giuseppe Motta, Studio Cantone-Ortoleva
The use of an earthy shade for the ceramic coverings extends from the paving of the courtyard to the inside of the swimming pool, establishing a single material shade for different levels. A new interpretation of the lessons taught by the landscape architect Luis Barragan defines the ochre shade of the perimeter walls that form a closed architectural space reminiscent of the courtyards of buildings in Catania.
The outline of the walls enhances the view of the tops of the surrounding trees, which partly shield the courtyard and the pool from the buildings around it.
FIRST PRIZE: Riqualificazione del piano libero del Corviale: il Chilometro Verde Rome, Italy
Designer Guendalina Salimei, T Studio
The first step in a major project for the redevelopment of the Corviale housing complex by Mario Fiorentino: a controversial, kilometre-long social architecture development that is part
of the history of post-WWII European architecture.
The current situation of the Corviale development – the re-use and re-invention of an imposing urban construction – adopts the dark flooring of the suspended road, now turned into a beam of green, as the departure point for a project that will be developed over time.
SECOND PRIZE: Bruzzesi 7 studios Milan, Italy
Designer Christian Bianco, CBArchitects
THIRD PRIZE: Private Apartment Prague, Czech Republic
Designer Barbora Léblová, Barbora Léblová Interiors & Architecture
SPECIAL MENTION: Jesolo Lido Beach Villa Lido di Jesolo, Italy
Villa a Ginevra Geneva, Switzerland
Designer Jacopo Mascheroni, JM Architecture
SPECIAL MENTION: House NB Szczecin, Poland
Designer Anna and Krzysztof Paszkowscy-Thurow, Anna Thurow Architecture and Interiors
FAÇADE CLADDING, OUTSIDE FLOORING, SWIMMING POOLS
FIRST PRIZE: Urbagreen Romainville, France
8ème Art Marseilles, France
Complesso Turistico plurifunzionale La Ciotat, France
Living in the Blue Lambrate (MI), Italy
Sangiovanni Housing Milan, Italy
Designer Alfonso Femia, Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia
The “Right to Matter” is expressed in a number of projects forming part of an on-going process of research that yields different results every time, forcefully underscoring the concept of ennobling elements of architecture, spaces and routes from a tactile, visual and symbolic perspective, using ceramic coverings. This research evolves to shape “mutant”, emotional architectures whose appearance changes along with the light at different times of day and in which ceramic material has a key role to play.
SECOND PRIZE: Centre Aquatique Aqua N&S Flixecourt, France
Designer Philippe Deprick, Atelier d’Architectures Le 212
THIRD PRIZE: The Spitfire Gallery, Potteries Museum and Art Gallery Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom
Designer Glancy Nicholls Architects
SPECIAL MENTION: UAE Pavilion Saadiyat Island Abu Dabi, UAE
Designer Italian Commercial Project
SPECIAL MENTION: Nuova sede Croce Rossa Scandiano (RE), Italy
Designer Marco Borghi, Lorenzo Rapisarda, Luca Monti, Studio M2R Architettura
SPECIAL MENTION: Due Fabbricati E.R.P. per 22 alloggi quale edilizia sostitutiva Portici (NA), Italy
Designer Giancarlo Scognamiglio, SAG Architettura, Elvira Romano
