ITALIAN ARCHITECTS SELECT THE
2006 INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE AWARDS
FOR THE BEST NEW GLOBAL DESIGN

The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and Metropolitan Arts Press Ltd. announce thirty-three (33) new distinguished buildings and urban planning projects selected this year in the Museum's prestigious "International Architecture Awards®" program for 2006. The program was launched by the Museum in 2005 as a way in which to honor and celebrate the most outstanding architecture designed and built throughout the world.

The Chicago Athenaeum, established in the historic city where modern architecture was first realized by Louis H. Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Mies van der Rohe, is the only Museum of Architecture and Design in the United States and functions internationally as one of the foremost museums dedicated to both architecture and industrial design.

In addition to the annual "International Architecture Awards" program, the Museum also organizes the most prominent world-wide competition for industrial design. "GOOD DESIGN®" was founded in Chicago by Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen in 1950, and the Museum continues this historic awards program, which attracts the most prominent designers and manufacturers internationally from BMW, Apple Computers, IBM, Siemens, Philips, to global electronics, furniture, household products and medical equipment, awarding anything and everything from a "spoon to a new city."

Milan Jury

For "International Architecture Awards" 2006, the Museum received hundreds of submissions from the best and most renowned design firms in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Americas. The submissions ranged from new corporate headquarters, skyscrapers, institutions, sports and transportation facilities, airports, urban planning projects, sacred spaces, and private residences and multi-family housing designed by architects in their countries of origin or abroad for both built and unbuilt projects alike, as of January 1, 2002.

The Awards Program was open to all international architecture offices and U.S. firms with projects outside the United States. (U.S. submissions are judged annually for "The American Architecture
Award.")

This year’s jury for awards took place during the Salone di Mobile in Milan (April 5-10, 2006) by noted Italian architectural practitioners and architecture journalists serving as jury members including:

Maurizio Carones, Editor, "AL" Architetti Lambardi, and Maurizio Carones Architetto, Milan, Italy
Cinzia Naguissola d'Altoe, Architect, Milan, Italy
Luca Scacchetti, Studio di Architettura, Milan, Italy
Mario Giulia Zunino, Editor, Abitare, Milan, Italy

The "International Architecture Awards" is curated and organized by Christian K. Narkiewicz-Laine, Director/President, The Chicago Athenaeum and assisted by Lary L. Sommers, Director of Administration/Marketing, The Chicago Athenaeum, and Kieran Conlon of Ireland.

Thirty-three (33) buildings and urban planning projects in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Americas were selected by the Italian jury for this 2006 Awards program. Both Austria and Japan tied with five projects. China, Ireland, and Singapore had four. Projects for corporate headquarters, churches, office buildings, art museums, health centers, libraries, and stadiums in Germany, Italy, South Africa, United Kingdom, Slovenia, Canada, Malaysia, Finland Australia, and the United States were selected.

"The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and Metropolitan Arts Press Ltd. has organized this annual Museum program, "International Architecture Awards," as a way in which to draw significant world attention to new buildings and urban planning projects being built and designed globally by the best and most prestigious international architecture offices and design firms," states Christian K. Narkiewicz-Laine.

"The wide geographic distribution of these awards attests to the importance of the program," Mr.
Narkiewicz-Laine adds. "There is no one, single program that brings together the latest cutting-edge international architecture today as one cohesive universal representation or platform for world design.
Our Museum is honored to provide a focus that allows an exploration and analysis for current stylistic directions and philosophical thinking that is apparent in contemporary design today."

"The program has a unique educational mission and public profile with the intent of promoting and celebrating the latest, most cutting-edge international design to a national and international audience," Mr. Narkiewicz-Laine continues.

The awarded projects for 2006 and other selected works will form an exhibition, "New World Architecture" to open at The Royal Institute of Irish Architects in Dublin in December 2006. Also shown will be the winning projects selected from the Museum's annual "American Architecture Awards" for 2006, which recognizes the best new building design in the United States.

Submission Details and Application Form

The 2007 deadline for submissions for "International Architecture Awards" is DECEMBER 1, 2006.