AHI Architectural Heritage Intervention

“Contributing to enhancing our heritage, as the way forward for 21 st Century architecture is our raison d’être; to emphasize a diverse, rich vision that necessarily complements the intervention is our mission, and achieving it with reflexive and purposeful efforts is the challenge”.

This project, founded in, and directed since, 2011 by Ramon Calonge, Oriol Cusidó, Marc Manzano and Jordi Portal, architects and members of the Group of Architects for the Defence and Intervention in Architectural Heritage (AADIPA), has, through the years become a platform that includes four actions that are both independent and transversal.
 
The European Award, a biennial event that brings together and showcases the multiple approaches of intervention in Europe.

The International Biennial, a framework that serves to compare and gain closer insight of quality interventions in architectural heritage in non-European countries.

The digital Archive, a live and open window that provides a panoramic view of interventions in the history of our surroundings.

The Forum, a meeting place where you can participate in on-going debates about the main preoccupations and lines of thought about interventions in architectural heritage in Europe.

Rules

Call

The European Award AHI is a biennial event. The main goal of this event is to distinguish quality interventions in all the aspects of built heritage and contribute to their dissemination. The contest is aimed at consolidating itself as a catalyst and observatory of new challenges added to the conservation and intervention in built heritage by the globalization of contemporary architecture.

The event is organised with the support of the Architects’ Association of Catalonia (COAC).

Jury

The European Award appoints an international jury in each edition. A committee of experts with an accredited trajectory in the field of intervention in Architectural Heritage.

- Built heritage
Stijn Cools, aNNo Architecten. Belgium
Stefano Francesco Musso, chair of the Heritage WG, ACE. Italy
Meritxell Inaranja. Spain

- Exterior spaces
Michaela De Poli, MADE associati. Italy
Fernando Menis. Spain
Gentzane Goikuria, behark. Spain

- Urban planning
Batu Kepekcioğlu, DATA STUDIO. Turkey
Bart Akkerhuis, Studio Akkerhuis. France
Ioanna Spanou, Barcelona Regional. Spain

- Disclosure
Elodie Degavre. Belgium
Stephen Bates, Sergison Bates architects. United Kingdom
Mariona Benedito. Spain 

- Special Restoration Mention
Anneleen Stevens, B-juxta. Belgium
with the management team of the Award: Ramon Calonge, Oriol Cusidó, Marc Manzano, Jordi Portal

- Special New European Bauhaus Mention
Marcos Ros, representative of the European Parliament
with the management team of the Award: Ramon Calonge, Oriol Cusidó, Marc Manzano, Jordi Portal

Who can participate?

The European Award AHI is aimed at all those professionals, associations and administrations linked to architectural heritage, such as: architects,  architectural firms, town planners, historians, archaeologists..., whose works have been conducted in the European geographical Area.

The following groups of people may not enter the contest: Any member of the COAC board, any jury member, or the members of the management team of the Award; as well as employees, collaborators or their associates or those related to them (until second degree of consanguinity and second of affinity).

Categories

The call is divided into four categories:
 
Built heritage
Aimed at all those architectural interventions, ephemeral or permanent, in buildings, at any scale. Interventions are mainly considered in protected buildings and groups of buildings, but may also involve all those interventions of culturally specific interest which have no protection, but are embedded in an urban or naturally protected space and help to define its historic character.
Exterior spaces
Aimed at all those interventions intended to propose solutions to the historic public space, understood as a space facilitating the social and economic
relations that exist in historic centres. Those spaces that are declared monumental groups of buildings are also included, as are those that constitute the origin of villages, towns and cities. Interventions in the area of monuments and cultural landscapes are also accepted.
Urban planning
Aimed at all those Special Plans for heritage protection, catalogues, inventories, or other planning instruments, involving the protection, conservation and
enhancement of architectural heritage. General planning documents, those documents derived from planning, etc., are also included, as well as those at local level that are aimed at the protection of architectural heritage.
Disclosure
Aimed at all those initiatives and actions which are mainly concerned with the dissemination of architectural heritage values, not only among professionals and technicians in the industry, but in society in general. Publications, articles, audiovisual accounts, presentations, events and all kinds of activities related to the promotion and appreciation of this heritage are also accepted.

Requirements

All submissions must be entered into one of the award categories and they must have been conducted or published in the period between January 1st, 2018 and December 31st, 2024 in the European geographical area. The only exception is  Disclosure category, where works by European authors in other geographical areas will be accepted.

The same author may present more than one work, piece or publication. A single intervention can apply for the award in different categories. But the specific documentation required for each of the categories must be presented.

All the requested documentation detailed in the full application rules of the call is processed through the web. In this way, the submitted projects become automatically part of the AHI Archive.

Registration and delivery of documentation

The deadline for submission of documentation will be on March 14th, 2025 at 24:00 h. (GMT+1).

Each registration fee is 100 Euros (VAT included) for general entries and 90 Euro (VAT included) for AADIPA (Association of Architects for the Defence and Intervention in Architectural Heritage) members. The same author may present more than one work, piece or publication. A single intervention can apply for the award in different categories. But the registration fee must be paid for each category.

Payment will be by bank transfer, stating:
EUROPEAN AWARD AHI + registration code

Bank account number:
Name: COAC
Bank: Caja de Arquitectos
C/ Arcs, 1
08002 Barcelona. Spain
BIC: CASDESBBXXX
IBAN: ES43 3183 0800 8610 0068 6525 

Proof of payment and all requested documentation as detailed in the following section of the rules will be sent electronically via the website.

Documentation required

- All the requested documentation is processed through the web.
- The online registration must be completed in English. Likewise, any text required in the rules.
- Information presented in a format or extension different to that stated in these rules will not be judged.
- The name of the proposal, the authors, the category and the registration code shall be written on a visible place on each sheet.

1. Registration and sworn statement
Together with the documentation required, the registration document should be filled out and the following accepted: the sworn statement, the assignment of rights and the requirements of the data protection. You will find them at the registration platform.
In the registration process, in each category, a brief report of the work is requested which should not exceed 1060 characters (including spaces), as well as a text that reflects the key idea of the project that should not exceed 325 characters (including spaces), both written in English. Likewise, any text required on the work summary sheets can be written in any European language, and in turn, must be translated into English.

2. Work summary
For each work submitted, a summary will be sent according to what is listed below for each category.
- Built heritage | Exterior espaces
Summary of the intervention presented on four DIN A3, single-sided sheets, horizontal format in PDF format. All of them composed of drawings, pictures, a brief report and photos of the previous state and the completed work. Four photos of the work must also be included: one representative photo, one photo of the previous state, and two other photos (Jpg. 300dpi, 15x10 cm). 
- Urban planning
Summary of the work on a maximum of three horizontal DIN A3, single-sided sheets, in PDF format. An abstract report on a maximum of three DIN A4 sheets will be added and a representative photo of the work (Jpg. 300dpi, 15x10 cm).
- Disclosure
Summary of the work on a maximum of five vertical DIN A4, single-sided sheets, in PDF format. It will include a brief introduction explaining the contributions of the work presented in relation to the dissemination of architectural heritage values. It can be include photographs, diagrams, etc… Also, a representative photo of the work will be added (Jpg. 300dpi, 15x10 cm).

Assessment criteria

- Built heritage
Architectural quality (30 points)
Relationship of the project with the environment (25 points)
Incorporation of sustainable criteria (15 points)
Adjustment to the program (15 points)
Innovation of the proposal according to economic viability (15 points)

- Exterior espaces
Architectural quality (30 points)
Relationship of the project with the environment (25 points)
Incorporation of sustainable criteria (15 points)
Adjustment to the program (15 points)
Innovation of the proposal according to economic viability (15 points)

- Urban planning
Balance between protection and intervention (30 points)
Proposed uses. Economic viability (20 points)
Simplicity of implementation of the regulation document (20 points)
Quality of the document. Multidisciplinary team. Work methodology (30 points)

- Disclosure
Originality of the subject (25 points)
Methodology of work (25 points)
Quality of the work development (25 points)
Contribution to the field of architectural Heritage (25 points)

Awards

The jury will give their verdict at the award ceremony to take place in June 2025 in the city of Barcelona.

The awards for each category will be as follows:
- Built heritage: from of a maximum selection of 15, 1 award and finalists will be established.
- Exterior espaces: from of a maximum selection of 10, 1 award and finalists will be established.
- Urban planning: from of a maximum selection of 6, 1 award and finalists.
- Disclosure: from of a maximum selection of 6, 1 award and finalists.

In addition, from all the work presented, two Special Mention will be concede: a Special Restoration Mention to the intervention which from a technical and methodological point of view stands out for its quality, precision and respect; and a Special New European Bauhaus Mention to the work presented that prioritize ideals such as sustainability, aesthetics, or inclusion. 

The organization reserves the right to declare any award category vacant, stating the appropriate reason on record. The winners will be awarded a framed reproduction of an original photograph by Francesc Català Roca from the historical archive of COAC. The finalists and those selected will receive a diploma.

The winning entries, finalists, those selected and submitted works will be part of Archive AHI and the catalogue published for each issue to document the event. Likewise, they will be part of an exhibition and/or participate in a conference to describe their work.

Calendar

December 18th 2024
Publication of the contest rules
Opening of the call

December 18th 2024 - March 14th 2025 March 21th 2025
Registration period and presentation of projects

March - April 2025
Evaluation period of the projects by the jury

May 2025
Publication of selected projects

June of 2025
Jury decision and Award ceremony

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