Observatory in Cyprus Wins Big at SHARE Architecture Awards

The SHARE Architectural Awards were created in 2024 to celebrate “the most remarkable contributions to the built environment across Central and South-Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.” This second edition of the awards saw 250 submissions from more than 35 countries. Projects were submitted in around forty different typological categories (Single House, Education, Office/Mixed-Use, etc.) within three sections: Completed Buildings, Future Projects, and Interiors. One hundred fourteen of the submissions were selected as finalists and advanced to the live judging that took place in Dornbirn. Each project was presented in front of the jury chaired by Martha Thorne and Peter Murray, and accompanied by Ana Flor, Habibeh Madjdabadi, Yevgeniya Pozigun, François Valentiny, Rainer Schmidt, Fernando Menis, and Oskar Norellus.

Kyriakos Tsolakis Architects' National Star Observatory of Cyprus, submitted in the “Sport. Civic and Community” category of the Completed Buildings, was awarded the Overall Winner. Set on steep terrain in the remote rural village of Agridia, the rectilinear building houses two telescopes (one night sky and one solar) as well as an “astro-marina” for amateur astronomers. The exterior is covered in reflective metal that blends the building into its landscape, while wood surfaces predominate inside.

Per a statement from SHARE Architects Society, the award's patron, the jury praised the project for its “visionary synthesis of science, landscape, and community purpose. Through a sculptural yet deeply contextual design, the observatory demonstrates how architecture can foster public engagement with research, create cultural identity, and elevate remote territories into places of shared curiosity and learning.”

Additionally, the Future Projects section winner is KYATHOS I Mass Timber Arena in Kyathos, Greece, designed by KAAF Architects. The jury described the project as “a very integrated way of using mass timber for the structure, also creating a multifunctional building, one that sat well in the context and would be able to be used and adapted over time.” 

And the Interiors section winner is SB Interior in North Macedonia, designed by BMA – Besian Mehmeti Architects. Though “modest in its initial presentation,” the jury described the existing building renovated into a branch bank, “a very rich and satisfying project [that] grows on you the more you study the photographs, the drawings, which is the way good architecture ought to be.”

World-Architects served as media partner for the SHARE Architecture Awards 2025 and participated in the “What Kind of Architecture Awards Do We Need?” panel discussion that held at the Zumtobel Light Forum in Dornbirn during the awards ceremony and gala dinner.