There are many people who contribute to my work and who I want to thank: the engineer Patrick Gartmann, with whom I have developed a holistic constructive awareness; the dedicated employees in my office who translate my work into reality; the teaching assistants at the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio who water the experimental ground, from which many ideas arise; the architectural theoretician Markus Breitschmid, with whom I have developed a life position that in the coming weeks will be published as a book  with the title "Non-Referential Architecture"; the publisher Dino Simonett, who houses my work within the most beautiful books in the world; and last but certainly not least, this prize also goes to my wife Tamara, an architect as well, for being the person who I can dream with and imagine new possibilities.

With my work, I aim to express something which is genuine, while at the same time as general and as close to the truth as possible – in the sense of not ideological. In other words, I aim for an architecture that is "non-referential".

I believe that in our time an architect should know the needs of our society but not act as a sociologist, should be engaged in the environment, but not act as an environmentalist, should realize building construction, but not understand quantity as a value.

My work is more cultural than political.

I understand my role as an architect as one who thinks and creates space. Spaces give buildings - by means of their presence - subjective universal validity. I make buildings that make sense and I build for the people. “

VALERIO OLGIATI 

Underwater Ballet