South Tyrol Architecture Award 2026
WINNER:
Renovation of the Old Rectory in Tartsch | Dr. Arch. Christian Kapeller
Jury statement: Preservation here is not nostalgia, but attitude; care and maintenance become an active principle of architectural thinking, not only in terms of handling the materials, but also in terms of the inevitability of change in the various requirements of the building's residents.

The long history of this house is not an end, but a transition. Architecture here means exposure, disclosure, care, and further construction, and in particular, construction that is not yet complete. An ongoing process, open to expectation, not yet and perhaps never completed.

The extension remains simple in material and form, taking its place where it was already programmatically intended, as if the house had been waiting for it. A dialogue emerges, not only through volume, material, and function, but also through liberal visual relations