The winners of Building of the Year 2023 have finally been announced! Promoted by the ArchDaily platform,
Building of the Year reveals, every year, the 15 best architectural works published in 2022. Among the thousands of projects entered, the portal's readers vote and elect the year's favorites. "The recognition of the profession goes beyond its usual borders and is capable of
motivating, joyful and exciting an increasing number of people who understand the importance of our built environment and its impact on people's quality of life", wrote ArchDaily Brasil. Among the list of winners, four are Brazilian: the São Paulo offices
MMBB Arquitetos and
JPG.ARQ , which together with the Argentine
Ben-Avid developed the Brazil Pavilion at Expo Dubai 2020; the
LEVANTE Collective , focused on developing projects in favelas and outskirts, which won with the design of a house in Belo Horizonte; and the office
Gustavo Penna Arquiteto e Associados , from the
CASACOR cast, which built a coffee factory in Minas Gerais. The group makes the country the nation to win the most awards in this edition of the award, next only to China. According to the portal, "the winners are a concrete example of what society recognizes as good architecture, but also of what is required of it". Below, find out a little about the award-winning projects!
House in the Coffee Orchard, by LEVANTE Collective
(Leonardo Finotti/CASACOR)
From a distance, there is no difference in the amalgam of exposed ceramic brick buildings in Aglomerado da Serra, a favela in Minas Gerais where the house is located. However, a closer look is enough to realize that Casa no Pomar do Cafezal, the second project carried out by the
LEVANTE collective , despite presenting a construction model with materials quite common to favelas, stands out thanks to the
attention given to lighting and ventilation , which resulted in a space with great
environmental quality .
(Leonardo Finotti/CASACOR)
Built on an angled plot of approximately
70 m² , the house was constructed from two 3x3m structural modules divided into two levels. The project won the
Houses category of the Building of the Year 2023 award. LEVANTE is a group of architects, students and engineers led by
Fernando Maculan and
Joana Magalhães whose objective is to develop projects, bring suppliers and sponsors for favela architecture in Belo Horizonte.
Carmo Coffees Headquarters, by Gustavo Penna Architect and Associates
(Leonardo Finotti/CASACOR)
(Leonardo Finotti/CASACOR)
The main product of the economy of colonial Brazil, coffee was grown primarily in Minas Gerais, a region where the climate and soil conditions encouraged the cultivation of the grain. In this sense, the new headquarters of Carmo Coffees aims to make the product a symbol, paying respect to the history of coffee in the region and throughout Brazil.
Brazil Pavilion at Expo Dubai 2020, by MMBB Arquitetos + Ben-Avid + JPG.ARQ
The design of the
Brazil Pavilion at
Expo Dubai 2020 is a representation of
Brazilian waters – its rivers and mangroves, a natural heritage that underpins the entire discourse on sustainability on the planet. With its tensioned steel structure and lightweight white fabric, the pavilion is a
fabric onto which videos are projected , creating an immersive atmosphere of images, sounds, aromas and variable temperatures, over an area of shallow, rippling waters where visitors to the pavilion can walk.
Led by Brazilian architects
MMBB Arquitetos and
JPG.ARQ , alongside Argentine architect
Ben-Avid , the pavilion's tensile structure is 48 meters wide and 18.5 meters high. During the day, the structure provides shade and protection for the water; at dusk, it turns the pavilion into a
luminous, floating cube . Immersed in projections, sounds, vapors and subtle aromas, this space forms the essence of the proposed museum experience.
Other winners
In total, 15 projects from around the world were awarded in 15 different categories. In the gallery below, we highlight the other winning projects; get to know them!
