Francesca Torzo wins the Italian Architecture Prize with new exhibition wing for Z33 (Hasselt, BE)

6 July 2020

Francesca Torzo has been awarded the Italian Architecture Prize 2020 in the best building category, for the new exhibition wing for Z33 - House for Contemporary Art, Design & Architecture in Hasselt (BE). The announcement was made by the MAXXI in Rome and the Milan Triennale. With this first edition of the architecture prize, the two organizations aim to promote innovation, design, quality and the social role of architecture.

The Italian Prize for Architecture

The award recognizes the best project or building completed in the past 3 years, the best designer under 40, or an outstanding career. In the best building category, an international jury chose Francesca Torzo and Z33 from more than 30 candidates. “The project is distinguished by its in-depth capacity to interpret the history of the location and the typology of the building. The exhibition space shows a spatial and expressive intelligence and fully meets current standards.” The jury also referred to the precision and quality of the presentation, which successfully highlights the building process and personality of the designer.

Major international recognition

"We applaud this initiative of Rome’s MAXXI and the Milan Triennale, and we congratulate Francesca Torzo, her team and everyone who worked on the new building for Z33, both in front of and behind the scenes," said Adinda Van Geystelen, artistic director of Z33. “This international architecture award shows how high-quality architecture can go hand-in-hand with a historical context and an urban fabric. Today, this daring choice gives Z33 and Hasselt an international outlook. We hope that this will inspire Limburg and Belgium to continue to be architecturally ambitious in the future.”

International jury

After a selection procedure with 31 candidates, the expert group selected a shortlist of 6 finalists. The jury consists of: Giovanna Melandri, president of the Fondazione MAXXI, Stefano Boeri, president of the Milan Triennale, Pippo Ciorra, senior curator of MAXXI Architettura, Lorenza Baroncelli, artistic director of the Milan Triennale, Tatiana Bilbao, architect at Titiana Bilbao Estudio, Simone Capra, architect at STARTT studio, Marco De Michelis, architecture historian, Maria Giuseppina Grasso Cannizzo, architect, Alfredo Jaar, artist, James Taylor-Foster, curator of contemporary architecture and design at ArkDes.

Three exhibitions

The inauguration of a new building presents a unique opportunity. It is the first and final time that one can discover the building purely as an architectural object. The exhibitions The Time of Work / The Work of Time will focus on the exploration of the new building.

In The Time of Work, a group of artists will guide the visitor’s gaze around the building. The artistic interventions will enhance, challenge and question the architecture and what it has to offer. With works by Lotte Van den Audenaeren, Noé Soulier, Les Gens d’Uterpan, Lodie Kardouss, Radouan Mriziga, Francesca Torzo, Christoph De Boeck, Anton Parys et William Forsythe.

The Work of Time explores different dimensions of time: mythic, spiritual and non-human time. With works by Alexis Destoop, Andy Weir, Commonplace Studio, Jesse Howard & Tim Knapen, Danilo Correale, Ecole Mondiale, Helga Schmid, Judith Seng, Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian, Maarten Vanden Eynde, Teis De Greve en Thomson & Craighead.

Currents #7: Birds of a Feather brings together works by seven recent fine arts graduates: Israel Aten, Myrthe Baptist, Justine Court, Jonathan De Maeyer, Jonas Dehnen, Leroy Meyer and Naama Roth. The artists test a physical, digital or mental archive of images, forms, symbols and stories against mass culture.