Emilio Ambasz has Received the IN/ARCH Veneto Lifetime Achievement Award 2023

Giulia Pellegrino & Ferdinando Crespi of Inarch Istituto Nazionale di Architettura writes:

The IN/ARCH (ISTITUTO NAZIONALE DELL’ARCHITETTURA) Veneto Lifetime Achievement Award has been conferred unanimously to Emilio Ambasz, the prophet of green architecture. Born in Argentina, cosmopolitan in life and work, deeply connected to Italy, Ambasz is one of the most extraordinary designers in the history of architecture.

The awarding ceremony of the IN/ARCHITETTURA Prizes 2023 has taken place at Museo Revoltella, organized by IN/ARCH, Ance in collaboration with Archilovers, and under the patronage of Anci and CNAPPC. The Lifetime Achievement Award has been conferred to Emilio Ambasz, an excellent exponent of the global architecture culture, and an extraordinary contributor to the history of contemporary architecture.

“Emilio Ambasz, pioneer of the ‘back to nature’ approach, has been recognized and celebrated internationally as a father, a poet and a prophet to green architecture. Further, Ambasz has also curated the cult exhibition Italy: the New Domestic Landscape at MoMA in New York, which has brought Italian design to worldwide prominence,” reads the jury’s motivation.

The jury composed by Lucia Krasovec-Lucas, president, and its members Sandro Boscaini, Carla Broccardo, Michele Franzina, Valerio Pontarolo, Donato Riccesi, Giovanni Salmistrari, and Miriam Venier have unanimously voted for Ambasz.

Ambasz, born in Argentina but cosmopolitan in life, “has shown a sincere interest for Italy” which, in turn, has reciprocated the feeling with prizes, invitations, and awards. Among the works realized in Italy, the following are noted for their relevance: Fondazione Banca degli Occhi and Ospedale dell’Angelo, also known as the ‘Health Garden’ (both in Mestre-Venice).

In jury’s words “with his style, which he himself describes as ‘green over grey’, he has implemented an unprecedented combination of architecture and vegetation for the seventies, giving shape and substance to achievements that are regarded as fundamental examples for green architectures, today experimented in every corner of the globe.”

His idea is a poetic one “an anticipated and revolutionary act of reconciliation with nature, for which nature itself can only be an ally in the construction of a new world, and in the human healing, both from the material and immaterial point of view. Today, this idea is a founding element of each architecture and each city.”(Lucia Krasovec-Lucas, President IN/ARCH Triveneto).

This vision is going to be, among other things, the core of Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism at MoMA (MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK) in New York. This is the first museum exhibition of works (150) that examines the relationship between architecture and the environmental movement in the United States. Emerging Ecologies (from 17/09/2023 to 20/01/2024) is also the first exhibition realized by the Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and Natural Environment, founded within MoMa in 2020, with the generous support and contribution of the _Legacy Emilio Ambasz Foundation (LEAF).

Ambasz has commented “I’m particularly grateful for this award as it comes from a territory I’ve been very fond of since I was a student.”

Ambasz is an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects and the Royal Institute of British Architects. He is among the foremost international masters of architecture and design, boasting an impressive number of publications, awards, recognitions, and honours awarded worldwide. In 2014, he has been bestowed with the title of Commander of the ‘Stella al Merito della Repubblica italiana’ for “his contributions to Italian culture,” a vision shared by the President of IN/ARCH Triveneto, Lucia Krasovec-Lucas, who has highlighted his “important work in spreading Italian architectural and design culture.”

The IN/ARCH National Institute of Architecture has been promoting and coordinating architectural studies for over 60 years, rewarding achievements and figures who represent architectural culture with excellence and whose works constitute an important contribution to the history of contemporary architecture.