Arxellence 3: The Awards Ceremony Highlighted Architecture As A Catalyst For Memory And Sustainable Development
The awards ceremony for the distinguished proposals of Arxellence 3 marked the culmination of the international transdisciplinary architectural ideas competition, organized by ALUMIL and AEGEAS, on the evening of Wednesday, April 29, 2026, at the Eugenides Foundation. The competition focused on creating a model of historical memory, sustainability, and innovation for the island of Gyaros.
Arxellence 3, organized by the ALUMIL Group and the Non-profit Civil Company for Culture and Welfare AEGEAS, under the endorsement & co-organization of the Technical Chamber of Greece, attracted more than 1,200 registrations from over 80 countries and received 30 final proposals, confirming the international character and prestige of the institution while reflecting the high scientific and creative interest surrounding Gyaros island.
The Competition’s international Jury awarded 3 Prizes and 4 Honorable Mentions to the ideas that stood out in accordance with the goals and terms of Arxellence 3, which are defined by the European Parliament’s guidelines on Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) and the New European Bauhaus (NEB), promoting biodiversity protection methods through solutions from nature.
Presentation of the Awarded Proposals and Prize Ceremony
1st Prize – The prison is transformed into a contemporary research center
The first prize was awarded to Greek architects Mr. Aris Grammatas and Mr. Iason Fragkos for their proposal “Palingenesis: From Memory to Self Sufficiency.”
The project proposes transforming the prison buildings of Gyaros into a research center dedicated to sustainability, memory, and environmental protection. The island is approached as a place where architectural intervention must take into account both a strong historical legacy and strict environmental constraints, while also facilitating contemporary research, education, and long-term habitation within a vulnerable and isolated environment.
2nd Prize – From a former place of exile to a museum and a self-sufficient research hub
The second prize was awarded to the team of Ali Andaji Garmaroodi, Shayan Ebrahimi, Mohammad Javad, Ghazaleh Alisirat, Zahra Jamali, and Negar Jebeli, active in Germany and Iran, for their proposal “Gyaros Horizon: Adaptive Reuse of a Carceral Landscape into a Renewable Research Ecosystem.”
Their intervention seeks to reinterpret the abandoned prison complex through a strategy of adaptive reuse, transforming a former place of imprisonment and torture into a museum and self-sufficient hub for research, culture, and sustainable living.
3rd Prize – The “island of isolation and death” gains new life
The third prize was awarded to Metin Keskin Architects from Turkey for their project “From Memory to Nature.” Their project, as a vision, aims to transform the image of the “island of isolation and death” into a model centered on life and production, according to the architects themselves.
Equal honorable distinctions and commendations for proposals that stood out in Arxellence 3 were awarded to:
• Arrogant Architects from Bulgaria
• Mackay and Partners from the United Kingdom
• Ben Huser from Switzerland
• Se Architecture from Turkey
