2025 COMPETITION NOTICE
FASSA BORTOLO INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE
Built Projects
16th Edition
Call for Bids 2025
Art. 1 – INSTITUTION OF THE AWARD
The “International Prize for Sustainable Architecture”, conceived and promoted in 2003 by Fassa S.r.l., owner of the Fassa Bortolo brand, and the Department of Architecture of the University of Ferrara, was born from the desire to award and make known to a wide public architectures that know how to relate in a balanced manner with the environment, that are designed for the needs of man and are capable of satisfying the needs of our generations without limiting, with the indiscriminate consumption of resources and the pollution produced, those of future generations.
The Award is therefore open to the participation of works realized in the form of new buildings, redevelopment and/or extension of existing buildings, interventions on an urban and landscape scale and in any other design field that has a concrete meaning in the broadest terms of sustainability (environmental, energy, social, cultural and economic).
In a context of strong climatic changes and rapid social transformations, particular attention and appreciation will also be devoted to works that demonstrate that they have been conceived with an approach and planning aimed at flexibility and adaptability of building use over time, as well as the reversibility of building elements and their recovery for future reuse.
Art. 2 – CONDITIONS FOR PARTICIPATION
Applications for the Award may be submitted by individual professionals or architectural or engineering firms; each individual candidate or group may participate with a single built project. The work must have been carried out and completed within the past 5 years.
Professors teaching during the current Academic Year at the University of Ferrara Department of Architecture may not participate.
For participation in the Award, the use of construction materials manufactured by the initiative’s sponsor, the Fassa Bortolo company, is absolutely not necessary or binding.
Art. 3 – THE AWARD
The Award is biennial.
Three prizes, consisting of Gold and Silver Medals, at the discretion of the panel of judges, will be awarded to projects deemed to be the most significant.
The panel of judges, if they see fit, may identify a shortlist and other works deserving of Honourable Mention.
Art. 4 – THE FASSA BORTOLO SPECIAL AWARD
The Fassa Bortolo Special Award represents a separate section of the International Award for Sustainable Architecture, an exclusive acknowledgment reserved for those who were able to use the solutions offered by the Fassa Bartolo Integrated System – that is, the main Construction Systems and related materials – in respect of the principles of sustainability and architectural quality.
It will be possible to submit a project to both the Fassa Bortolo Special Award and the main section of the award, presenting the relative documentation (see Art. 6, para. e).
The prize money for the special section’s winning project is €3,000.00
Art. 5 – HOW TO REGISTER
To participate in the competition, fill out the electronic application form found online at www.premioarchitettura.it and submit it by March 3rd 2025. POSTPONED al March 30th 2025
Art. 6 – DOCUMENTS TO SUBMIT
To participate in the selection by the International Panel of judges, it is necessary to submit, exclusively in digital form, the following documents divided up into various folders identified by alphabetically ordered letters, as shown below, and collected under a parent folder identified by the candidate’s surname-name or the architectural firm:
folder a)
A document (*.doc format) written only in English, drawn up by filling out the form that can be downloaded from the award website (www.premioarchitettura.it). It should include:
- information about the completed project (designers, consultants, client, project timeline).
- a short resumé, no longer than 1500 characters, spaces included, and a photo of the candidate or the design team (in *.jpg format)
- the geographic and climate data typical of the construction location and a brief description of the microclimatic conditions: latitude, longitude, altitude, geographic North, and predominant wind direction, etc.
- an overview and technical description of the project, in 3000 characters or less (spaces included), with a particular focus on the technical specifications of the materials used and discussion of the bioclimatic features and systems engineering. The report should be concise, describing only what is strictly necessary for understanding the project.
Projects with reports longer than the 3000 characters indicated above will not be evaluated.
folder b)
Graphic illustration of the project: plans, cross sections, elevations, concept schemes (in *.pdf format), drawings, and any photos of the models, renderings, etc., with the short side no less than 15 cm (in *.jpg format with 300 dpi resolution, image quality 12, RGB)
folder c)
At least 6 high quality photographic images of the completed structure, with the short side of the document measuring no less than 15 cm (in *.jpg format with 300 dpi resolution, image quality 12, RGB)
folder d)
– 2 A1 panels (portrait orientation) with only English language text drawn up by freely taking from the materials included in folders a, b, c mentioned above.
All text inside the panels, captions included, must be exclusively in English.
The minimum font size must be equal to 11 pt (captions included) to permit a correct reading by the international panel of judges, under penalty of exclusion from the competition.
The legibility of the panel contents (drawings, diagrams, text, captions, etc.) must be guaranteed for any A3 format printouts as well (candidates are encouraged to carry out tests to ensure the print legibility at this scale).
It is mandatory to use the templates of the A1 panels with the official Title Block downloadable from the homepage of the www.premioarchitettura.it website.
The two panels should be in both *.pdf and *.jpg format with 300 dpi resolution, image quality 12, RGB.
– 1 panel 100x70 cm, in both *.pdf and *.jpg formats, where the two A1 panels should be inserted, adapting them to fit in the template that can be downloaded from the homepage of the website (300 dpi resolution).
folder e)
Only for whoever intends to compete in the “Fassa Bortolo Special Award”
It is necessary to submit a declaration signed by the project leader certifying the use on-site of solutions belonging to the Fassa Bortolo Integrated System or its main related Systems (Plasterboard, Plasters, Color System, External Thermal Insulation Composite System, and Coatings, etc.; see www.fassabortolo.com), specifying the company/applicator involved in the project phases. The template for the declaration is available and can be downloaded from the Prize’s website (www.premioarchitettura.it). It is also mandatory to attach photographic documentation consisting of at least 3 photos of execution details and at least 3 photos of the site, all in *.jpg format, with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi and a short side of at least 15 cm. Additionally, a form containing the company’s and the legal representative’s personal data must be submitted.
Projects that do not respect each of the specifications given above will not be considered.
The documents and drawings required for participation should be sent digitally via email to the Organizational Coordinator at premioarchitettura@unife.it.
Art. 7 – Project submissions
The above-listed components of the applications must be submitted digitally to the Award Office (premioarchitettura@unife.it), using a large-file transfer system (in general, such systems as Yousendit, Wetransfer, Hightail o Jumbo mail di Libero are problem-free) by April 14th 2025.
The total dimension of the digital materials submitted should not exceed 1 GB.
Failure to meet the deadline, or to respect the participation requirements as listed above, non-conformity of the documents with respect to art. 6 of this call for bids constitutes grounds for exclusion from the Prize selection by the panel of judges.
Payment of a registration fee is required for participation in the competition, in order to cover the technical costs borne by the Award organizer to manage the files and print them on boards for evaluation by the panel of judges and for later exhibitions.
The fee is set at €120.00; it must be paid not over April 14th 2025 by means of the link that will be sent by email to each participant or by means of a similar link that will be published and activated on the home page of the official website of the Prize (www.premioarchitettura.it) a few days after the deadline for registration, which will redirect to the computer system of the Consorzio Futuro in Ricerca engaged to collect the fee.
Acknowledgment of receipt of the fee and the relative invoice will be e-mailed directly by Consorzio Futuro in Ricerca, within a few days.
Art. 8 – JURY COMMITTEE
The jury will consist of the Chairwoman Prof. Marianne Burkhalter and two internationally renowned members in the field, appointed by the Scientific Committee of the Prize, chaired by Prof. Arch. Thomas Herzog. A professor from the Department of Architecture at the University of Ferrara will be also part of the panel.
The Panel’s decision will be final and unappealable.
Art. 9 – NOTIFICATION OF THE RESULTS
The outcomes of the selection, with the identification of the winners and the bestowal of the honourable mentions, will be communicated to all the participants by the end of July 2023; the award proceedings and the reasons for the award and the honourable mentions will also be published by means of the official Award website (www.premioarchitettura.it) and that of the Fassa Srl company (www.fassabortolo.com), as well as in the specialised press.
All the designers awarded a medal will be hosted by the awarding authority on the occasion of the public Awards ceremony, to be held (on a date yet to be established) in Ferrara, at the University of Ferrara Department of Architecture in Palazzo Tassoni.
Art. 10 – PUBLICATION OF THE AWARD-WINNING WORKS
The prize-winning projects along with those deemed worthy of mention will be published in a booklet dedicated to this edition of the Award; the descriptions and drawings accompanying them, together with the projects in the prospective shortlist, will also be available to see on the Award website
Art. 11 – PARTICIPATION TERMS
By sending the required documents for being admitted to the competition, participants to the Prize:
- declare under their own responsibility of being the only, exclusive owners of projects' copyright;
- accept and subscribe all the regulations set by the present document;
- accept that the submitted material will not be returned;
- authorise the Department of Architecture of the University of Ferrara and Fassa S.r.l., promoters of the Prize, to use and divulge all the documentation referred to in art. 6 for the purpose of total or partial publication both in paper and digital format, for any purpose, even independent of the Prize which is the subject of the present competition, as well as for promotional and advertising purposes, without prejudice to the obligation to cite the author. It is expressly understood that no remuneration is foreseen for this authorisation and, therefore, the participants shall have no claims whatsoever, including copyright, as well as any use that the University of Ferrara and/or Fassa S.r.l. may make of the documentation referred to in art. 6".
- commit to keep the Architecture Department - University of Ferrara and Fassa S.r.l. in the clear from any possible objection, claim, or judgement related to the contents of the submitted projects, used and divulged for publication purposes as illustrated above.
The Prize management reserves its right to make any useful modification for a better production, as well as any additional request of integration to the submitted material.
Art. 12 – Award Office
For information and explanations, the Award Office address is as follows:
Dipartimento di Architettura, Università di Ferrara
Via Quartieri 8, 44121 Ferrara
e-mail: premioarchitettura@unife.it
website: www.premioarchitettura.it
SPONSOR
Fassa S.r.l.
