EUmies Awards 2025 and 2026 Exhibition in Varna
July 18, 2026
July 23, 2026
The School of Architecture and Urban Environment of the Amorpha Youth Foundation explores the dynamic nature of architecture and urban spaces within the theme “TRANSFORMING THE CITY” with an emphasis on green architecture and urban greenery, cultural heritage and “reduce – reuse – recycle”.
Urban planning cannot be autonomous from natural systems. It must follow them, understand them and fit into their logic – functionally, spatially and ideologically. The coast is the place where this necessity is most tangible. The constant presence of the sea often creates the illusion of an inexhaustible resource. But the coast is not an endless backdrop, but an ecosystem, a historical layer, an economic resource, a social scene, a cultural memory and a climatic zone.
Engaged in lectures, workshops, and fieldwork, participants are tasked with offering interventions in three locations in Varna.
The city is examined and analyzed as an organism embodying architectural aspects. In the modern city, the relationship between man and nature is often minimised. With superficial or aggressive planning, nature is reduced to a visual decor — to a view, not to an environment. It loses its ability to be a space for a long stay, for a healthy life, for the formation of sensitivity, thinking, belonging, aspects of a different temporal and ideological scale and simultaneous belonging to the Bulgarian immovable cultural heritage, to the distinctive architecture of the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and to the global modernity, driven by multidisciplinary, ecological, technological and social practices.
The further we move away from the natural environment, the more we lose the intuitive and intellectual knowledge of how to organize our world in relation to it – a loss that affects not only the quality of space, but also all aspects of human development, and over time this model becomes a self-destructive approach – both for the urban environment and for society. the Romanian capital.
Program here.
EUmies Young Talent winners take part in the closing programme of the Second Amorpha Urban Architecture School in Varna
From 20 to 23 July 2026, the closing programme of the Second Amorpha Urban Architecture School brings together architects, students, academics and public institutions in Varna, Bulgaria, to explore new approaches to urban transformation under the theme Reimagining the City. Organised by the Amorpha Youth Foundation in partnership with the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, the programme highlights the contribution of EUmies Awards Young Talent to international architectural dialogue.
The programme features several EUmies Young Talent winners, who will present their award-winning projects and lead workshops with participants from the summer school:
- Brave New Axis (EUmies Young Talent 2025), presented by Spyridon Loukidis, Markos Georgios Sakellion and Georgios Thalassinos (Greece).
- Hotel Interim (EUmies Young Talent 2025), presented by Andreas Stanzel (Germany/Switzerland).
- Forest & Phoenix (EUmies Young Talent 2025), presented by Vera Kellmann and Carolina von Hammerstein (Germany).
- Yulgok Street: Rethinking Restoration in Contemporary Seoul (EUmies Young Talent Asia 2020), presented by JiSoo Kim, now practising at Adjaye Associates in New York.
The opening day also includes a lecture by Ivan Blasi, Director of the EUmies Awards, on the evolution of the EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture / Mies van der Rohe Awards, including the Architecture, Emerging and Young Talent strands, followed by the opening of the Exhibition in Varna.
The participation of former EUmies Young Talent winners demonstrates the programme’s long-term commitment to supporting emerging architects beyond the award itself, fostering international exchange and connecting new generations of professionals with students, educators and local communities through lectures, workshops and collaborative activities.
The opening was attended by…
More information here.
Curator: Anna Sala (Fundació Mies van der Rohe)
Coordination: Amorpha Urban Architecture School
Mounting: Amorpha Urban Architecture School
Surface: 100m2
Visitors: 3,500 people