At the beginning of the new millennium, after about ten years of impasse, Italian architecture reshapes its identity and reduces the gap between the discipline and a great range of society.
In this context and on the occasion of the 20th Triennale, “Memory and the Future”, Triennale launches the first re-edition of the Gold Medal for Italian Architecture in order “to promote the most interesting works and architectural firms who designed them”. Architecture is read as a “drive for environmental quality” and the result of a “vital dialogue between designer, client and builders”.
According to Luca Molinari, the Medal is not “an award to focus on trendy or fashionable buildings, nor the search of a sacred genius of architecture. The Medal states the need to know what has been built in such a complex country like Italy and support the often fragile national identity in its difficult path to self-redefinition and acknowledgement” .
The selection combines 40 works proposed by the Award scientific advisors with online self-nominations. More than 256 works built between 1995 and 2002 are scrutinized by the Jury chaired by Giancarlo De Carlo (president), Pio Baldi, Gillo Dorfles, Kurt Forster, Henk Hartzema, Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani, Luca Molinari and Alexander Tzonis.
The jury identifies a selection of 48 finalists and projects that will be exhibited at Triennale di Milano and later on in a travelling exhibition that reaches Naples (Castel dell’Ovo, 2004), Rome (Auditorium, 2004), Singapore (URA, 2005) and Guangzhou (Academy of Fine Arts, 2006).
Among 2003 Medals: Best Work Award to Fincantieri New PRF-UMO factory (Castellamare di Stabia, Naples) designed by Umberto Riva with Pierpaolo Ricatti, First Work Medal to Linear Park (between Caltagirone and Piazza Armerina, Catania) designed by Marco Navarra (NOWA); Best Public Client to Rome and Naples municipalities; Best Private Client to AMSA and the Award for Critique to Pierluigi Nicolin for Lotus and Lotus Navigator magazines.