Last month Valentino Architects joined the Architectural Review’s New Into Old judging panel for the 2023 edition of their award series. Sandro Valentino was named one of three judges in an award that celebrates “the creative ways buildings are adapted and remodelled to welcome new contemporary uses”. The AR New Into Old awards began in 2017 and have since called for international submissions to showcase “the imaginative appropriation of existing structures, from innovative insertions to ambitious adaptations, offering buildings a new lease of life”. Sandro joined Lu Wenyu, co-founder of Amateur Architecture Studio in China, and Mohamadreza Ghodousi, founder of ZAV Architects in Iran, to review over 100 submissions and select a cohort of finalist schemes.
The shortlist, which will be announced later this month, culminated in a selection of 15 projects – nine longlisted, six shortlisted – chosen following a six-hour review process between the three judges and AR editor Manon Mollard. The final six shortlisted schemes will be visited by AR representatives in the lead up to the overall winner announcement. Sandro’s invitation to join the awards’ judging panel aligns with Valentino Architect’s commitment to inventive re-use its own work, building on a project portfolio that has consistently made a case for retrofit within a context of overwhelming new-build development.
As such, the studio’s retrofit project, La Serenissima, last year won the overall award for Interior Apartment at the INSIDE Festival in Lisbon, Portugal, an event which will also see Valentino Architects join its vast judging panel. Peter Valentino will form part of the event’s jury later this year in Singapore, helping to select projects from around the globe over a three-day long festival of architectural and interior design showcase.
The INSIDE Festival runs alongside the World Architecture Festival, which together are known to be the largest global live awards event for architects and designers. Inside and WAF are the only awards programme where all entrants present their projects live to a panel of judges, in ten-minute presentations, charged with communicating the design and intention of their scheme within one compact delivery. The 2023 INSIDE World Festival of Interiors will take place at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore from the 29 November to 1 December.