The Formative Potential of The Prize. The Construction of Contemporary Alpine Architecture

Abstract

In recent decades, the architecture award has gained more and more space within the panorama of cultural events dedicated to architecture. Alongside the potential for criticism, cultural promotion and professional legitimation, this type of event combines the ability to produce certain forms that transcend those of the constructed work and are instead characterized by the meanings conveyed by the award itself. Through the analysis of two international awards in the Alpine territory, Neues Bauen in den Alpen and Constructive Alps, held between the beginning of the 1990s and the present day, the essay aims to explore the formative potential of the award and, particularly, to understand how different meanings transmitted by the two awards correspond to different cultural products and forms.