40th PIRAN DAYS OF ARCHITECTURE –
International architectural conference, Piranesi award and exhibition |
Saturday, November 25, 2023, Auditorium Portorož & Monfort Portorož |
The honorary patron of the 40th anniversary PDA is Anna Ramos, director of the Mies van der Rohe Foundation

At the end of November, the internationally renowned architectural conference, the 40th PIRAN DAYS OF ARCHITECTURE (PDA), will be held in the Municipality of Piran. With the title CONTEXT. CONCEPT. CONSENSUS., it summarizes the content of all previous meetings and all three topics are closely intertwined. Identifying the context, embedding the context in the concept, and verifying the concept by searching for consensus are all familiar working procedures that we use, but we mastered them in different approximations of complete integrity, which one only rarely attains. It is validated only in the context of the future and with the consent of history. That is why returning to these timeless themes is always relevant, necessary and important. This is what the architect Janez Koželj wrote, among other things, about the content of the jubilee PDAs, the acclaimed traditional international architectural conference, which celebrates 40 years of activity this year. The conference will feature invited lecturers, internationally recognized experts: Wang Shu, Lu Wenyu (China), Iva Letilović, Igor Pedišić (Croatia), Pedro Domingos, Pedro Domingos (Portugal), Tom Lechner (Austria), Aitor Fuentes (Spain), Janez Koželj, Sonja Ana Hoyer, Lenart Piano, (Slovenia).
The conference will be held on Saturday, November 25, 2023, in the Portorož Auditorium, where at 7:00 p.m. the Piranesi 2023 award ceremony will be held with a welcome address by dr. Asta Vrečko, Minister of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, and the honorary address of Anna Ramos, director of the Mies van der Rohe Foundation. The award ceremony will be followed by the opening of the Piranesi 2023 international architectural exhibition in the Monfort Wooden Hall in Portorož at 8:00 p.m. More information at the link …
PDA 40: OPEN ARCHIVES
Documentary exhibition
Herman Pečarič Gallery
Inauguration: Friday, November 24, 2023, at 6 p. m.
The history of the PDA will be summarized and evaluated by the documentary exhibition PDA 40: OPEN ARCHIVES (curators: Špela Kuhar, DESSA Gallery, Robert Potokar and Staša Baranja, Piranesi Foundation), which will be opened in the Herman Pečarič Gallery on Friday, 24 November 2023, at 6 p.m.
FINAL JURY REPORT
Piran, 24 November 2023
Piranesi Award is conferred since 1989, this year for the 34th time in a row. The international jury for the 2023 Piranesi Awards met on 24 November 2023 in Monfort Exhibition hall in Portorose. Members of the jury, traditionally composed of every year Piran lecturers, were:
Níall McLaughlin, president
Pedro Domingos
Aitor Fuentes
Janez Koželj
Tom Lechner
Iva Letilović
Wang Shu
The jury was led by Eva Mavsar, Vesna Perovnik, Špela Nardoni Kovač and Tatjana Sirk.
For the 2023 Piranesi award 53 architectural projects were nominated by national selectors from 11 European countries: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia and Serbia.
37 students’ projects were nominated by students’ selectors from 19 European Faculties of Architecture from Spittal, Banja Luka, Mostar, Sarajevo, Zagreb, Split, Thessaloniki, Budapest, Ferrara, Pescara, Trieste, Podgorica, Bratislava, Ljubljana, Maribor, Belgrade, Kragujevac, Novi Sad and AA London. All together 87 projects arrived at the Piranesi exhibition, 50 projects from architects, and 37 projects from students.
The traditional criteria of selection for the Piranesi exhibition were:
Considered setting in an urban or natural space
Spatial and design accordance with the context
Contemporary innovative spatial plan and layout
Respectful approach to the natural and cultural heritage
Contemporary understanding of traditional and autochthonous architectural elements
Innovative details
Considered use of color, materials, texture and light
All Piranesi winners receive a chair of Slovenian architect and designer Niko Kralj, donated by our sponsor RexKralj.
Glass sculpture for Piranesi Award was designed by young Slovene architect Ajda Racman who won 1st prize at student tender, organized in 2017 by DESSA gallery and Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts and Design. The sculpture was made in famous Steklarna Rogaska/Rogaska glassworks.
After considering all the projects, jury decided that awards go to:
International 2023 Piranesi Student Honorable Mention
Biological Corridor of Plitvica River | Varaždin, Croatia | 2023
Student: Matija Cepanec
Mentor: Lea Pelivan
Architecture can be embodied in the creation of a landscape. This linear organic system can facilitate biodiverse connections. It operates as a resource to temper the cycle of climate variation by absorbing sudden changes. It also connects different places using a structured natural habitat.
International 2023 Piranesi Honorable Mention
RIVUS VIVERE | Urban Building Block | Vienna, Austria | 2023 Architects: PPAG architects (Anna Popelka, Georg Poduschka)
This is an ambitious large-scale project. It creates high-density housing while keeping the character of a city neighborhood. It makes intimate shared courtyards with different layers of privacy. We commend the exploration of different living typologies in a major project of this kind.
International 2023 Piranesi Honorable Mention
Bohinj Kindergarten | Bohinj, Slovenia | 2023 Architects: Arrea arhitektura (Ana Jerman, Janja Šušnjar), KAL A (Sofía Romeo Gurrea-Nozaleda, Miguel Sotos Fernández-Zúñiga)
Landscape architects: AKKA (Luka Javornik, Lara Gligić)
This project is about doing an ordinary thing well. We enjoyed the linear sequence of open spaces framed loosely by buildings. This allows easy interaction between children. The wooden construction was clear and well articulated. It seems like a village made from a collection of buildings that feel like home.
International 2023 Piranesi Award goes to:
Revitalization of Old Glassworks and Surrounding Urban Areas in Old Town of Ptuj | Ptuj, Slovenia | 2023
Architects: ELEMENTARNA (Matevž Zalar, Ambrož Bartol, Dominik Košak, Miha Munda, Rok Staudacher, Samo Kralj), KOLEKTIV TEKTONIKA (Darja Matjašec, Pia Kante, Katja Mali)
We recognise that the reuse of existing buildings is central to architectural culture because it shows both respect for the environment and historical continuity. This project subtly stitches together a piece of urban fabric, keeping it relevant by bringing old buildings into new public uses. It has a wonderful atmosphere, integrating new elements and old with poetic conviction.
Mentions of 5 projects from architects:
Renewal of a Roman Catholic Church | Cserépváralja, Hungary | 2023
Architects: Studio Partizan (László Csaba and Zoltán Major, Péter Müllner)
Bicocca Superlab | Milan, Italy | 2022
Architects: Balance Architettura
“Lucio Dalla” Square and Neighborhood Civic Center “Katia Bertasi” | Bologna, Italy | 2022
Architects: TASCA Studio
Tomac Winery | Donja Reka, Plešivica, Croatia | 2023
Architects: Dva arhitekta (Tomislav Ćurković, Zoran Zidarić)
Štvanice footbridge in Prague | Praha, Czech Republic | 2023
Architects: Petr Tej, Marek Blank
Mentions of 3 projects from students:
The Building type of the “Kärntner Pfeilerstadel” | Potential for subsequent use of a regional culture asset | Carinthia, Austria | 2023
Student: Christopher Juwan
Mentors: Jürgen Wirnsberger, Bettina Schlorhaufer
Long house Rača | Bratislava, Slovakia | 2023
Student: Ing. arch. Matúš Stieranka
Mentor: Ing. arch. Pavel Paňák
Life among the Ruins – Revitalization of the Kőkút Pauline Monastery Ruins and Its Surroundings | Salföld, Hungary | 2023
Student: Dóra Tihanyi
Mentor: Péter Kronavetter DLA