Winners Announced of BigMat International Architecture Award 2021

LAN (Local Architecture Network) was created by Benoît Jallon and Umberto Napolitano in 2002. LAN has received several awards: the Nouveaux Albums de la Jeune Architecture (NAJA) prize awarded by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication (2004); the International Architecture Award from the Chicago Athenaeum and the European Urban Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies, the Archi-Bau Award, the Special Prize at the 12th World Triennale of Architecture, Sofia (2009); the AR Mipim Future Projects Award and the Europe 40 Under 40 Award (2010). In 2011 the office was awarded at the LEAF Awards with the Best Sustainable Development in Keeping with its Environment prize and at the SAIE Selection Awards.

Benoit Jallon. 18th May 1972 Grenoble (Fr). Fascinated by the body’s structure and its logical organisation, layers and strata, Benoit Jallon first turned to medical studies. However, his need for involvement and creativity soon led him to begin studying architecture. He graduated from the Villette School of Architecture in 2001 with a special mention from the jury. Curiosity and a thirst for knowledge have led him to travel widely, particularly in Italy.

Umberto Napolitano. 27th November 1975 Naples (It). Umberto Napolitano began his architectural studies in Italy and completed them in France at the Villette School of Architecture where he graduated in 2001 with a special mention from the jury. He rapidly developed a critical approach to the separation between theory and practice. In parallel with his architectural education, he also worked with a number of architects. His involvement in Franco-American workshops has given his work an international flavour and allowed him to absorb other cultures and skills.

The studio Bak Gordon Arquitectos was founded in 2002 by Ricardo Bak Gordon (1967). He graduated in 1990 from Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade Técnica de Lisboa. During his studies he also attended Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto and Politecnico di Milano. He was teaching at the Integrated Master Degree (MSc) in Architecture at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Lisbon between 2009 and 2019, and at the Escuela de Arquitectura da Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain, between 2017 and 2019.

He was also a Visiting Design Critic between 2015 and 2017 at Harvard GSD, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He lectured (and/or attended as a visiting teacher) at several universities and institutions such as Universidad de Navarra, Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, IUAV di Venezia, and Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Barcelona.

His activity as an architect has been developed since 1990, and in the year 2002, he created the studio Bak Gordon Arquitectos, where currently works.

He was the author of the Portugal Pavilion in ExpoZaragoza 2008, the Portugal Pavilion in São Paulo Biennale 2007, and the exhibition project of Lisbon International Architecture Trienal 2007. He has designed, in co-authorship, the new National Coach Museum in Lisbon.

He has built work both in the private and public domain, which stands out as processes in schools, carried out in Portugal and Switzerland.

His work as an architect was present in several exhibitions in Portugal, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil, Macau, South Korea, and Japan; and was published in prestigious editions of the specialty.

He was a nominee for the Mies van der Rohe Award in 2009, 2011, and 2022; winner of the FAD Prize 2011 (Barcelona, Spain), BIAU Prize 2012 (Cádiz, Spain), CICA Prize BA2015 (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and APCA Prize (São Paulo, Brazil). He was one of Portugal’s representatives at the Venice Biennale in 2010, 2012, and 2018, and in the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial. His work integrates the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) architecture collection.

In 2019, he was awarded a prize by the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) for his work as a whole.

In 2021 he was awarded the international prize BIGMAT and in 2022 the Portuguese National Prize for Architecture FORMA.

Anna Bach, Nummi, Finland, 1973. Architect from the Helsinki University of Technology (2001) and Master in Project Theory and Practice from ETSAB, UPC. She is a PDI professor at EINA, Barcelona University Center for Design and Art, UAB. His work has been awarded, among others, with the International FAD Award, the FAD Ephemeral Work Award and the FAD Opinion Award on four occasions, as well as Finalist and Selected in the Spanish Biennial and the Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, Nominated for the European Architecture Mies van der Rohe and exhibited in venues such as the Cité de l'Architecture in Paris or the Spanish Pavilion at the XV Venice Biennale.

Eugeni Bach, Barcelona, Spain 1974. Architect by the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Barcelona, UPC (1999), Professor of Projects at the ETSAB UPC and the Master EPAI of the ETS Arquitectura La Salle, URL. His work has been awarded, among others, with the International FAD Award, the FAD Award for Ephemeral Work and the FAD of Opinion on four occasions, as well as a Finalist and Selected in the Spanish Biennial and the Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, Nominated for the Award of European Architecture Mies van der Rohe and exhibited in venues such as the Cité de l'Architecture in Paris or the Spanish Pavilion at the VII and XV Venice Biennale.