Saint Sarkis Church Receives The International Architecture Award 2025
ICG Italia is proud to announce that theInternational Architecture Award for 2025 has been awarded to the Saint Sarkis Armenian Church in Carrollton, Texas—a project that proudly features our DYS porcelain slabs by Fiandre, a brand of Iris Ceramica Group.
Unveiled by The European Centre for Architecture during the awards gala in Athens this past weekend, September 20, 2025, the project, designed by David Hotson (Architect), is a powerful fusion of ancient Armenian architectural tradition and cutting-edge digital fabrication. Inspired by the 1,400-year-old Saint Hripsime Church, Saint Sarkis stands as a memorial to the 1.5 million victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
At the heart of this achievement is our Design Your Slab (DYS) technology, which enabled the creation of the church’s western façade: a traditional Armenian cross composed of interwoven botanical and geometric motifs. As visitors approach, the design reveals 1.5 million unique, digitally-printed icons, each just one centimeter wide— representing an individual life lost.
This marks the first-ever use of exterior-grade, high-resolution digital printing to achieve nested visual scales—from the architectural scale of the façade down to pixel-level detail—on UV-resistant, large-format porcelain slabs. The result is a vivid, durable, and deeply symbolic surface that merges storytelling with technical excellence.
Beyond the memorial façade, ICG ITALIA porcelain slabs were used throughout the Saint Sarkis campus—interior and exterior—creating a cohesive material language that bridges Armenia’s rich heritage with contemporary innovation.
This international recognition is a testament to the power of collaboration between architectural vision and material technology. We are honored to have played a role in bringing this meaningful and technically sophisticated project to life.
