“ArXellence 2” is the international architecture ideas competition by ALUMIL, which was endorsed by the International Union of Architects (UIA) and was carried out in close cooperation with UIA’s International Competitions Commission (ICC Council), implementing UNESCO’s international standards. The competition, after completing every stage (from the vision and call for submissions to the final entries and their evaluation), was successfully concluded with a high-quality online Awards Ceremony.

The online event took place on February 23rd. More than 3.000 unique users watched during the two and a half hours of the ceremony. At the beginning the President and CEO of ALUMIL Mr. Giorgos Milonas stated that “in a year full of great challenges due to the restrictions of COVID-19 pandemic, the people of ALUMIL remained true to their vision of creating an international architecture ideas competition, without compromising its global character.” The President of ALUMIL Group also expressed his belief that “the success of ArXellence 2 will encourage the public authorities to begin the discussions regarding the economic and urban future of the city”.

Afterwards, the President of the competition’s international Jury and UIA representative Mr. Kasper Guldager Jensen declared his happiness about his participation in this journey and congratulated ALUMIL for the initiative and the architects for their courage to devote their time and knowledge to submit their ideas about the redevelopment of this significant area in Thessaloniki, Greece. In attendance on the ceremony were also the representatives of the public authorities responsible for Thessaloniki: the Undersecretary of Ministry of Interior Mr. Stavros Kalafatis, the Regional Governor of Central Macedonia Mr. Apostolos Tzitzikostas and the Mayor of Thessaloniki Mr. Konstantinos Zervas. All of them talked with admiration about the competition and stressed the importance of redevelopment on the western coastal area of the city in the immediate future, so that Thessaloniki can become the center of the Balkan area.

Following the above introductions, the protagonists of the night, the awarded architects that shared their vision of the urban future in Thessaloniki, took the floor. The members of the 10 teams that stood out in the competition presented their proposals, explained their thoughts and spoke about the whole experience of their participation in “ArXellence 2”. At the end of the ceremony ALUMIL’s Director of Innovation and ArXellence concept leader Mr. Nikos Salpingidis congratulated the participants and his team for the hard work  and motivation and also stated: “Our company established the concept of ArXellence for two reasons: the one is that because it is part of our Corporate Social Responsibility program and the second reason is because ArXellence is a way for ALUMIL to connect with the everchanging world of creation and ideas and this is the world of architects around the globe”. Concluding his statement Mr. Salpingidis mentioned that when the conditions will allow it ALUMIL is going to organize a physical exhibition dedicated to ArXellence 2 and he also informed the audience about the preparation for “ArXellence 3”.