Piran Days of Architecture 2025
On Saturday, 22 November 2025, the 42nd International Conference Piran Days of Architecture will take place in the Portorož Auditorium. An architectural event with one of the longest traditions in the world, held since 1983 at the initiative and under the organization of Slovenian architects, will once again be held under the honorary patronage of Anna Ramos, Director of the Mies van der Rohe Foundation. This year’s conference will take place under the title Is Architecture Neutral?, about which Prof. Mihael Dešman wrote:
“As architects, we regard our field of expertise to be an autonomous discipline which is bound by its internal rules. To an extent, this is true as we are talking about a specific discipline boasting its own history as well as methods and operational techniques. But on the other hand, architecture affects everything, and everything affects architecture. As a result, it is in no way neutral but rather always situated in one place or another – physically, socially, and historically. If architecture were neutral, it wouldn’t bear social, environmental, and political responsibility. It would be apolitical, confined to the ivory tower of its autonomy. Being, as it is, situated in the world and in time, however, it is beholden to acting responsibly right here and right now.
Architecture is about research which leads to the uncovering and modification of the designated function of the existing, rather than to the mere creation of new forms. This prompts the necessity of consideration, which accounts for the bigger picture and acts accordingly, too. As architects, we must be active, develop concepts, and take decisions even on levels which lie outside the autonomy of the architectural profession. Nowadays, this has chiefly to do the with the consideration on social injustice and the environmental crisis. Late capitalism is edging architecture’s artistic and social, but also technical and scientific relevancy ever closer towards a state of crisis. Architecture is increasingly becoming a market commodity, be it either a luxury product or cultural heritage frozen in time, or a merciless tool employed by the capital to serve the purpose of profit-making. What is needed is a critical reflection on what architecture is, and what are the causes and manner of its operation, as well as its effects.”
At the 42nd Piran Days of Architecture, the speakers will be:
Miha Dešman • Dans arhitekti • Slovenia
Palinda Kannangara • Palinda Kannangara Architects • Sri Lanka
Pau Bajet, Maria Giramé • Bajet Giramé • Spain
Petr Pelčák • Pelčák a partner architekti • Czech Republic
Nemanja Zimonjić, Ognjen Krašna • TEN • Serbia, Switzerland
Matjaž Bolčina, Ernest Milčinović • ARP • Slovenia
students • UL FA and UM FGPA • Slovenia
The PIDA conference will conclude with the 36th ceremonial awarding of the international architectural prize PIRANESI 2025. Projects competing for the award and recognitions were nominated by national and student Piranesi selectors, and selected by an international jury composed of the annual PIDA lecturers. The nominations are published at www.pida.si/nominacije.
After the award ceremony, the PIRANESI 2025 PRIZE exhibition will traditionally open at 20.00 in the Monfort Exhibition Space, where it will remain on view until 30 December 2025.
The PIDA programme begins two days earlier with the events PIRAN DAYS IN PIRAN.
On Thursday, 20 November 2025 at 17.00, the children’s workshop TRACES OF SPACE – BETWEEN READING AND JUDGING will be held at the Piran City Library, organized by the Center for Architecture Slovenia as part of its programme Playful Architecture.
On Friday, 21 November 2025, you can attend a lecture by Andrej Hrausky, FORMA PERENNIS: JOŽE PLEČNIK AS A GRAPHIC DESIGNER, at 18.00 in the Piran City Library, and at 19.30 visit the photographic exhibition wienerberger LIGHT AND SHADOW OF BRICK STRUCTURE: Brick Award at the Sv. Donat Concept Store and Gallery.
On Saturday, 22 November 2025, the exhibition of the student workshop PIDA 2025 MORE THAN THE AUDITORIUM will be on display in the Portorož Auditorium. It was prepared by students of the Faculty of Architecture, University of Ljubljana, and students of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering and Architecture, University of Maribor, together with mentors Assoc. Prof. Uroš Lobnik, Asst. Prof. Mitja Zorc, Asst. Žiga Kreševič, and Asst. Tadej Urh. The initiators, organizers, and external critics are Anže Koren and Borut Bažec, while the producers are the DESSA Gallery and the Portorož – Portorose Auditorium.
Tickets for the 42nd Piran Days of Architecture can be obtained at www.pida.si/vstopnina.
More info at www.pida.si/.