Following my graduation earlier this spring and a summer working on various architecture competitions, the autumn arrived faster than expected and with it the Graz Architecture Diploma Awards. The GAD award is an annual held ceremony showcasing and honouring the architecture faculties’ best diploma projects of each year. 

Around 30 works were nominated and a jury of three awarded a total of six prices. Besides the diploma prize, three additional awards were given out, the “Tschom Housing Award”, the “Hollomey Travel Award” and a special recognition for resource and climate-friendly architecture. 

The jury consisted of INNOCAD Co-Founder Martin Lesjak, Massimo Bricocoli of the Politecnico di Milano and Hilde Léon of Leonwohlhage architects and the Leibniz University Hannover.

Much to my surprise, I was fortunate enough to receive the Hollomey Travel Award. An award donated by professor Werner Hollomey, member of the Werkgruppe Graz and a long-time associate of the TU Graz, who is as much an architect as a world traveller and sketcher. In several books, he is telling incredible stories about his journeys complemented with simple, yet expressive sketches. 

Concluding the entire GAD award was an evening two weeks past the ceremony at the HDA Graz (house of architecture) where the winners had the possibility to present their work to a broader audience, initiating a conversation about the topic. Deeply impressed and inspired by the projects of the other participants the chapter of studying architecture in Graz came officially to an end. 

While autumn can sometimes be a rainy and dull period in Austria, it is the time where nature shows off its most incredible colours. Bright yellow and orange larches lined our way when hiking through the mountains near Schladming. The pictures were taken on this hike and will be remembered throughout the winter months until the next golden autumn.

Links:

https://www.tugraz.at/fakultaeten/architektur/aktuelles/veranstaltungsreihen/gad-awards/