From February 14th to April 24th, this year`s edition participants will be able to submit their works eligible for any of the 15 prizes of the BigMat International Architecture Award. This year’s edition places special emphasis on collaboration between BigMat and architects by introducing a new special category: the Proximity Architecture Award.
Casa no Tâmega Hugo Ferreira + Nuno Melo Sousa © José Campos
Building on the success of the previous six editions, the BigMat International Architecture Award will continue to highlight the best contemporary architectural works produced in Belgium, France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Slovakia, and Spain, paying special attention to those partnerships between builders and architects working alongside BigMat distribution centers, through the new category called the Proximity Architecture Award.
Divided into three main categories – Architecture Awards, Proximity Architecture Awards, and Young Architect Award – the selected finalists will compete for one of 15 prizes (seven National Awards for Architecture and seven National Awards for Proximity Architecture, one for each participating country). From these, two winners will be chosen: the BMIAA’25 Grand Prize for Architecture (30,000€) and the BMIAA’25 Grand Prize for Proximity Architecture (20,000€ for the Architect and 10,000€ for the Builder). Additionally, any of the 140 shortlisted participants under 40 years of age may be recognized with the BMIAA’25 Young Architect Honorary Award. The total prize money for this edition is the highest yet, with over €80,000 to be awarded.
Registration is free for all architects in the participating countries. Keep posted and follow our Instagram account @bigmataward to discover all the submitted projects.
THE BIGMAT INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE AWARD
The BigMat Group was founded in 1981 to improve and streamline the distribution of construction materials by bringing independent businesses together under one association. The BigMat Architecture Award originated in Spain in 2005. After three consecutive national editions, it evolved into an international event, garnering significant interest.
The first international edition of the award took place in 2013, where Belgian architect Xaveer de Geyter was announced as the winner during the final award ceremony held in Granada. Spanish architect Alberto Campo Baeza won the second edition, held in Berlin in 2015. The third edition took place in Florence in 2017, with French architects Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal emerging victorious. The fourth edition, held in Bordeaux in 2019, was won by Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura. The fifth edition, held in Paris in 2021, saw Belgian architect Xaveer de Geyter win once again. The sixth edition, in 2023, crowned Spanish architects Ramón Pico and F. Javier López (Estudio ACTA) as winners in the general category, while Portuguese architects Hugo Ferreira and Nuno Melo Sousa were recognized in the small-scale residential architecture category. The awards ceremony for the sixth edition took place in Seville, Spain.
After over 20,000 applications over the past eight years, BigMat is proud to announce the latest edition of the BigMat International Architecture Award, dedicated to celebrating collaboration between builders and architects through outstanding built projects.
ADMISSION AND PRIZES
Works built between January 1, 2021 and January 1, 2025, for the Architecture category and between January 1, 2016 and January 1, 2025, for Proximity Architecture category in any of the participating countries (Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain) will be accepted. The architects must be professionally based in the same country in which their project is located. Please refer to our official bases for complete information on this year’s edition timeline and regulations.
The jury will select a total of fourteen BMIAA’25 National Prizes rewarded €1,500 each: seven Proximity Architecture category projects and another seven Architecture category works. Necessarily the seven countries competing for the Award will have to be represented in both categories.
The seven National Awards for Proximity Architecture will compete for the BMIAA’25 Grand Prize for Proximity Architecture (€1,500 for the National Prize + €28,500 for the Grand Prize). The seven National Prizes for the rest of the architecture works will compete for the BMIAA’23 Grand Prize for Architecture (€1,500 for the National Prize + €28,500 for the Grand Prize). A Special Mention Award for Young Architects (€1,500) will be arranged in case none of the applicants in this category were chosen as Grand Prize.
The jury will meet to award the fourteen + one prizes. The final ruling will be made public during the awards ceremony that will take place in November 2025 in Warsaw.
BMIAA 2025 JURY PANEL
This edition’s Panel of Judges brings together some of the most talented architects in Europe today. Joining Jesús Aparicio (Award President) and Jesús Donaire (Award Secretary) will be Oana Bogdan (&bogdan), representing Belgium, Anne Lacaton (Lacaton & Vassal), representing France, Francesca Torzo, representing Italy, José Neves, representing Portugal, Martin Jančok (Plural), representing the Czech Republic and Slovakia and María Langarita (Langarita-Navarro), representing Spain.
The awards panel shall adopt decisions by majority vote from among its seven voting members.
Jesús Aparicio, founder of Jesus Aparicio Architectural Office and Professor at the Technical University of Madrid School of Architecture, he has a triple approach to architecture, through research, teaching and professional practice.
Jesús Donaire, founder of Jesús Donaire Architecture + Communication Office and Professor of Technical University of Madrid School of Architecture and visiting Professor at Politecnico di Milano since 2016. His professional work has been awarded internationally, highlighting the ENOR awards on two occasions, LLEDÒ, COAM Madrid, ASCER for Ceramic Architecture.
Oana Bogdan is the founder of the Brussels-based practice &bogdan. She challenges the traditional role of the architect, believing the profession’s skills can navigate many areas of life. Her work focuses on spatial conditions for collective living and public debate. She has also served as Secretary of State for Cultural Heritage in Romania and Chair of the Netherlands Creative Industries Fund Committee for Architecture.
Martin Jančok is an architect at PLURAL (Bratislava, Slovakia), a studio emphasizing architecture’s social and cultural relevance. Established in 2009, PLURAL works on projects ranging from exhibitions to urban planning. Recently, it won the competition to design the Prague Emergency Medical Service building. Jančok also teaches at the Slovak Technical University in Bratislava.
Anne Lacaton co-founded Lacaton & Vassal in 1989. The Paris-based firm focuses on public buildings, housing, and urban planning, with a commitment to sustainability, reuse, and social impact. Notable works include the Palais de Tokyo in Paris and modernist housing transformations. She has taught at institutions including ETH Zürich and Harvard GSD. Awards include the 2021 Pritzker Prize and the EU Mies van der Rohe Award in 2019.
Francesca Torzo has led her Genoa-based studio since 2008, designing projects across Europe and China. Her practice blends architecture, art installations, and furniture. She studied at TU Delft, ETSAB, AAM, and IUAV, and worked with Peter Zumthor. She teaches at Bergen School of Architecture and the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio. Her extension of Z33 House of Contemporary Art in Hasselt won multiple awards and was a 2022 Mies van der Rohe Award finalist.
José Neves founded his practice in 1991 after working with leading Portuguese architects. He has taught architecture since 1988 and is a visiting professor at ISCTE. His work, recognized with awards such as the SECIL Architecture Award (2012) and Valmor Prize (2011), reflects a balance between tradition and contemporary design.
María Langarita is an architect, researcher, and lecturer at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. She co-founded Langarita Navarro in 2005. The Madrid-based firm has won awards such as the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture Special Mention and the FAD Architecture Award. Their work is part of the Centre Pompidou collection and has been featured in 2G magazine.
For the last edition of the prize, BMIAA ’23 the final jury held in Madrid and composed of David Van Severen, Petr Janda, Gilles Delalex, Enrico Molteni, Nuno Brandão Costa, Ángela García de Paredes, Jesús Aparicio, President of the Award, and Jesús Donaire, acting as Secretary, selected, among the over 1000 projects submitted to the competition, the 15 finalist projects to compete in Seville for the two Grand Prizes and the national awards of Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, and Spain.
