Winners of UIA's The Future of the Profession competition explore heritage site conservation through reimagined visitor centers

The International Union of Architects has revealed the results of The Future of the Profession - Empowering the Next Generation in Participatory Urban Design. 

Organized in collaboration with UNESCO, the competition tasked young architects with proposing innovative ideas for new visitor centers at UNESCO World Heritage Sites. This initiative aims to address the critical challenges World Heritage Sites face in urban contexts around the world, such as the negative impact of building encroachment, tourism pressure, and climate change. According to UIA, visitor centers can play a crucial role in mitigating these issues by facilitating the way Sites are accessed and engaged with.

A total of 139 proposals were received from 45 countries. Entries were evaluated by an international jury, resulting in five prizes being awarded along with four honorable mentions. The winning proposals are being displayed at Palazzo Zorzi, the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe, in Venice. They are also being showcased at an exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Look below to learn more about the winning projects.

1st Prize: "W[oa]ndering Medina" by Radical-J
Design team: Amath Luca Diatta, Greta Allegretti, Letizia Allegretti, Pietro Brunazzi, Elena Paccagnella, Stefano Tremolada (Italy)

Jury comments: "W[oa]ndering Medina stood out for its profound sensitivity to both the tangible and intangible dimensions of heritage. Eschewing the conventional notion of a singular architectural object, the proposal dissolves into the existing urban fabric, attuned to the Medina’s spatial rituals, material fragility, and layered socio-cultural rhythms. It neither dominates nor isolates but positions itself as a quiet companion to the city’s daily life. Rather than proposing a centralised visitor centre, the project offers a dispersed and situated experience—one that unfolds through a series of subtle spatial cues embedded within the Medina itself. This approach transforms the city into a living archive, where discovery and interpretation emerge through movement and engagement rather than display or monumentality. The architecture becomes a framework for storytelling, privileging context over intervention. The true strength of the proposal lies in its curatorial mindset. It redefines what it means to intervene in heritage by embracing absence, silence, and restraint as powerful tools of design. Without imposing form or erasing what exists, the project allows the Medina to speak for itself —affirming that preservation, when approached with care, can be deeply contemporary, participatory, and inseparable from place."

2nd Prize: "Under the Winding Hill" by CDH Team
Design team: Bui Minh Chau, Nguyen Thi My Duyen, and Pham Nguyen Gia Huy (Vietnam)

Jury comments: "Under the Winding Hill is a simple yet bold proposal that skilfully navigates the boundary between architecture and landscape. It seeks both to reframe the experience of the heritage site and to protect it from the threat of flooding. Through a straightforward tectonic gesture that subtly echoes the geometry of the existing fortifications, the design introduces an elongated, partially subterranean volume to house the visitor centre. This configuration maintains a continuous visual connection with the adjacent World Heritage site. However, a degree of tension arises from the scale of the intervention. While conceived as a protective measure, its physical presence introduces visual disruption to Ngo Mon Square, raising important questions about the balance between preservation and spatial impact."

3rd Prize: "Tulou Consolidation" by Distortion Studio
Design team: Davide Contran (Italy)

Jury comments: "Tulou Consolidation presents a sensitive and restrained intervention that places the existing Tulou at the heart of the proposal—not as a backdrop, but as the protagonist. The project’s minimal physical footprint, vernacular material palette, and quiet architectural language reflect a deep respect for cultural continuity and contextual memory. Its strength lies in its ability to engage with the site’s history of abandonment not through spectacle, but through spatial empathy and subtle reactivation. The intervention carefully avoids overpowering the historic structure, choosing instead to touch it lightly and allow its architectural and cultural presence to remain intact. The addition of a tea house and circulation elements show an intention to reanimate daily life and social interaction within and around the Tulou. Its vernacular sensibility and material harmony offer a poetic atmosphere that aligns with the character of the surrounding village and landscape. However, despite these strengths, the proposal has space for development. The program lacks clarity in terms of long-term functionality, and the connections between the new elements and the original Tulou could be more articulated. In further developing the proposal, issues of accessibility, environmental response, and broader site integration should be addressed. As it stands, the project reads more as a thoughtful architectural gesture than as a complete strategy for cultural and spatial revitalization."

4th Prize: "Golden Gates" by DENARA
Design team: Francesco Rambelli, Nicolò Calandrini, and Mirko Tavaniello Boresi (Italy)

Jury comments: "Golden Gates represents a highly sensitive and contextually aware intervention that simultaneously reactivates neglected heritage assets and proposes a strategic framework for engaging with city centres. By centring the intervention on Ravenna’s historical gates, the project reconsiders access to and perception of the city’s historic core. The accompanying case study demonstrates an approach that is both minimal and respectful of the existing context, using a material palette that deliberately references Ravenna’s listed Byzantine heritage. While the project achieves a commendable balance between preservation and contemporary reinterpretation, in further developing the proposal, the visitor centre’s programme would benefit from better articulation—as well as a more explicit connection to the broader system of World heritage sites in Ravenna—enhancing the project’s coherence and cultural resonance."

5th Prize: "Visitor Center at Quebrada de Humahuaca" by AAtlas
Design team: Mateo Boasso and Laura Paz (Argentina)

Jury comments: "The proposal for the visitor center at Quebrada de Humahuaca successfully meets all the objectives of the competition, adeptly addressing both educational and informational functions. By employing a series of interventions that engage various areas of the World Heritage site, it offers a credible and thoughtful strategy that is sensitive to the context and that intelligently involves the local community in the construction and operation of the facility. While the design minimizes the impact of the new construction on the site by reactivating the central market area, rural pavilion and archaeological relics, it falls short of establishing a more original architectural language. instead it presents a vernacular approach that closely resembles other existing structures within the site both in terms of materials and architectural motifs."

You can also find the four Honorable Mentions in the image gallery below.