Elisa Valero is the winner of the Swiss Architectural Award

Elisa Valero (Spain) is the winner of the sixth edition of the Swiss Architectural Award: an international biennial architecture prize sponsored by the Swiss Architectural Foundation, with the collaboration of the Academy of Architecture at Università della Svizzera italiana , Mendrisio, and the support of the Fondazione Teatro dell'architettura and the Foundation for the Lugano Faculties of Università della Svizzera italiana.

The Swiss Architectural Award aims to promote a kind of architecture that is sensitive to contemporary ethical, aesthetic and ecological issues and can facilitate public debate. The prize, which amounts to 100,000 CHF, will be presented to the winner on November 15, 2018 at the Auditorium of the Theatre of Architecture (Accademia di architettura, USI, Mendrisio), during a ceremony which will also mark the opening of the exhibition of the works submitted by the candidates.

Elisa Valero was selected among 32 candidates from 19 countries, thus winning the edition with the largest number of participants since the beginning of the award. The Judges decided unanimously to grant the 2018 Swiss Architectural Award to Elisa Valero for the extension of a school building in Cerillo de Maracena (Granada, 2013-2014), for the
experimental houses in Granada (2015-2016) and for the church in Playa Granada (2015-2016).

According to the panel, “Elisa Valero’s architecture is driven by a strong personal commitment and by an innovative research of construction solutions, which enable her to comply with the conditions required by functional programs and create very high-quality buildings, whilst making use of limited resources”.

The Judges appreciated how Elisa Valero’s work deeply reflects the objectives of the Swiss Architectural Award, a prize that aims to encourage public debate on the potential of architecture by involving three Swiss Schools of Architecture.

The jury of the sixth edition was chaired by Mario Botta, its members were Riccardo Blumer (Director of Accademia di architettura - USI), An Fonteyne (Professor at the Department of Architecture of the Zurich Federal Polytechnic University), Francis Kéré (Professor at Accademia di architettura - USI) and Paolo Tombesi (Director of the Institut d'Architecture of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne).

Further information at: www.swissarchitecturalaward.com