Join Ghost Town Refuge and Shape an Exclusive Experience to Visit Craco [Sponsored]

Ghost Town Refuge: YAC’s latest architectural competition appeals to creatives for the best proposal to design contemporary refuges among the ruins of the ancient Craco, in southern Italy. The design challenge aims to bring this historical village back to its ancient splendours welcoming visitors for an exclusive experience: fall asleep under the uncovered vaults of a ghost town. Hurry-up to register to the competition with a discounted fee: early birds will end on Sunday, 22nd December!

Register HEREand submit your proposal to a distinguished jury panel made of David Chipperfield, João Carrilho da Graça, Ian Ritchie, Alberto Veiga, Benedetta Tagliabue (Miralles Tagliabue). The winners will be awarded € 15,000 in cash prizes!

BRIEF
As the temples of Angkor and the ruins of Chernobyl, ghost towns have always played a special role in the collective image. 

There is an axiom, a mysterious and elusive connection between life that has passed in a place and the fascination such space exerts once it has been abandoned. As if any event occurring in architectures could leave a mark. As if any person living in a place could give a unique value to it. It is something intangible but real, mysterious but perceptible. It is something that remains over time as the echoes of distant lives that turn abandoned cities into indescribably charming places.     

Craco is no exception. Perched on stone pinnacles and clay ridges, Craco is the archetype of the ghost town.  

It is a city burned up by the sun and severe winters. It is an assemblage of houses with unsteady bricks clinging to each other. Their arrangement is so expressive and fascinating that looks artificial. It is a sculpture of houses with torn-off roofs, interrupted vaults and ruined bell towers.

It is a place that does not belong to the present. This space is trapped among the depths of the past. Here, time and abandonment made one of their most indescribable miracles. Every year, thousands of visitors from all over the world look for such miracle in pursuit of intense emotions. They undertake a journey that is not always easy. They do so by following the irresistible call of the most outstanding ghost town on the planet.