Villa Gioia - €10,000 - Registration Deadline 23 October 2026
Oct 23, 2025
3 min read
Updated: May 17
In the quiet town of Bedizzole, nestled near the shores of Lake Garda, stands a testament to Northern Italy’s rural history. Villa Gioia, once a grand estate defined by its gardens and service buildings, is now the focal point of a profound architectural challenge: Adaptive Regeneration. The competition invites designers to transform this historic complex into a contemporary retirement residence, proving that "old age" and "old walls" can together create a vibrant, modern future.
PRIZE FUND: 10,000 €
1ST PLACE: 5,000 €
2ND PLACE: 2,000 €
3RD PLACE: 1,000 €
5 Golden Mention: Coupon for a Free Membership*
10 Honourable Mentions: Coupon for a Free Competition*
* The total of the mentioned coupons is 2,000 €
DATE:
Closing date for project submission: 23 October 2026 - 14:00 (London Time)
Announcement of the winners: 23 November 2026 - 11:00 (London Time)
PARTICIPANT: Everyone (No professional qualifications required)
COST*:
Early Registration (24Mar - 26 Jun): 79 €
Standard Registration (26 Jun - 18 Sept): 109 €
Late Registration (18 Sept - 23 Oct): 139 €
*Subscribe from €19/month for unlimited access to multiple competitions.
The Vision: From Estate to Community
This is not a call for a conventional clinical facility. Instead, Villa Gioia asks for a radical rethinking of senior living. The goal is to move away from the "institutional" and toward the "communal," creating a domestic ecosystem where history and modern care intersect.
Participants are encouraged to balance three distinct spatial layers:
The Private Sanctuary: Individual bedrooms or small apartment units that ensure autonomy and privacy.
The Social Core: Shared dining areas, cultural spaces, and "collision zones" that encourage daily interaction.
The Healing Landscape: Wellness areas and gardens that leverage the estate’s original rural character to promote physical and mental health.
The Design Challenge: Merging Eras
The primary architectural tension lies in the dialogue between heritage preservation and contemporary accessibility. Designing for an aging society requires a "frictionless" environment, yet the villa's historic nature often presents structural hurdles.
Accessibility: Integrating elevators, ramps, and wide corridors without compromising the villa's historic proportions.
Thermal Comfort: Retrofitting thick masonry walls with sustainable climate control and high-performance glazing.
Wayfinding: Using lighting and material changes to help residents navigate the complex intuitively.
Indoor-Outdoor Flow: Reclaiming the old "service buildings" as garden pavilions or sunrooms.
A New Model for Senior Living
As the global population ages, the "Villa Gioia" model serves as a vital case study. It proposes that retirement should not be a withdrawal from the world, but a transition into a vibrant residential community. By repurposing a historic estate, the project provides residents with a sense of belonging and continuity. Living within walls that have stood for generations offers a psychological anchor, while the introduction of modern wellness spaces ensures that aging is handled with the dignity and grace it deserves.
Why It Matters
Bedizzole and the Lake Garda region are synonymous with beauty and "dolce vita." By choosing this site, the competition highlights that care is a cultural value. Through sensitive intervention, Villa Gioia can transition from a relic of the past into a beacon for the future of social architecture—one where the "joy" (Gioia) of living is preserved at every stage of life.
"The architecture of Villa Gioia should not just house the elderly; it should celebrate their presence within the fabric of the town."
