Wall2Water, also known as Ferla’s green living wall, and sub-DEMO 4.2 of CARDIMED has been awarded the Professionals Prize at the Massimo Riili Award – Architecture Award 2025, promoted by National Association of Building Contractors (ANCE) and Confindustria Siracusa.
This recognition is particularly meaningful as it comes from leading organisations in the construction and industrial sectors, highlighting the growing interest in Nature-based Solutions, green technologies and new approaches to urban regeneration that place the public interest, environmental quality and social value at the centre of architectural practice.
As stated in the official motivations of the jury, the Wall2Water was awarded for its exemplary ability to combine technological innovation, architectural regeneration and social impact, transforming a school building into an active green infrastructure.
The intervention addresses often overlooked issues such as the urban water cycle and microclimate through an advanced vertical greywater treatment system, while simultaneously defining a new architectural language for the ecological transition of contemporary construction.
The project’s educational value is particularly significant, as it transforms the school into a living laboratory of sustainability. A participatory process involving students and the local community in monitoring ecological processes turns technology into a tool for collective awareness and civic engagement.
Wall2Water is a project conceived and developed by Iridra, implemented by SVI.MED ETS and the Municipality of Ferla, with the direction of works carried out by architect Francesco Giunta (who submitted the application for this competition).
This award confirms not only the project’s high technical quality, modularity and replicability in public contexts, but also a successful model of collaboration between public authorities, private companies, professionals and the third sector.
Today, the Ferla green living wall plays a strategic role in major European initiatives such as CARDIMED sub-DEMO4.2 and Interreg EuroMed URWAN, supporting the research, monitoring and evaluation of innovative solutions for climate resilience and circular water management, and focusing on the planning and scaling up of Nature-based Solutions in Mediterranean cities respectively.
Special thanks go to ANCE Siracusa, the Riili family and the entire jury, including its president Carmelo Zappulla, for recognising a project that shows how a shared, place-based vision can generate sustainability, beauty and a better future for architecture.
