The Competition

On 2nd February 2011, the Autonomous Provincial Council of Bolzano-Bozen announced a competition for ideas to transform the controversial fascist-era facade of the Palazzo degli Ufficio Finanziari. The competition was open to artists, architects, historians and anyone involved in the cultural sphere. The solution had to transform the bas-relief into a place of memory, so that it was “…no longer visible directly but accessible thoughtfully, with appropriate explanatory texts.” The ideas and the projects could be presented in any form, but they had to include an architectural and artistic dialogue with the building itself and the whole of Piazza del Tribunale. Other evaluation criteria considered the creativity, practicality, and the quality of the historical information. A special commission was set up to evaluate these projects. From the 486 projects submitted, five joint winners were selected. Their ideas have been applied, with some modification and integration.