The jury appointed to judge the architecture, interior design and end-of-degree project categories of the 20th Tile of Spain Awards met at ASCER's headquarters on Wednesday November 17th 2021, decided to award the following prizes:
The Architecture Category
The jury reviewed the submitted entries and selected four finalists:
The jury decided to award the first prize for architecture to "A new headquarters for the Valencia Construction Sector Employment Foundation", a project by mrm Architects' Studio (Miguel Alonso Flamarique, Roberto Erviti Machain, Mamen Escorihuela Vitales).
It praised the use of large-format tiles as a quintessential feature of the building envelope. Likewise, it commended the choice of a standard product, applied in industrial style, to create an outer shell based on the criteria of cleanliness, order and minimum resources.
In the architecture category, a special mention was given to "Malaga University's Faculty of Psychology & Speech Therapy", a project by LLPS Architects' Studio (Eduardo Pérez Gómez and Miguel Ángel Sánchez García).
The jury highlighted the innovative, glossy, continuous ceramic skin that was developed for the whole building, using round glazed tiles and other smaller ones in the gaps. To facilitate their installation, a mesh-mounted system was used. The building's layout and its cladding overcome possible problems with meeting points, relinquishing the need to cut the tiles or to use special tiles.
The Interior Design Category
The jury selected four finalists:
The jury decided to award the first prize in the interior design category to "Living in a Coderch" by Estudio Vilablanch.
It praised the project's rigorous exercise in interior design, in keeping with the spirit of José Antonio Coderch's architecture, while also highlighting the concept of permanence as a common denominator. The skilful choice of materials and meticulous care with which the design project was put into practice were also noted.
The jury decided to award a special mention to "JM55" by BURR Studio for its capacity to create vibrant interiors in such a small space, with the sole use of a single central tiled feature around which all the other spaces revolve.
A special mention was also given to the project "Cal Garrofa" by Julia Tarnawski and Albert Guerra. In this case, the jury highlighted its radical conceptual philosophy, used to revive a traditional looking home, in addition to the heavy use of colour and ceramic tiles to create a space with strong poetic connotations.
The End-of-Degree Project Category
The jury reviewed the submitted entries and selected five finalists:
The jury reached a unanimous decision to award:
First prize to the project "Castilla la MaRcha. A resort for Motivated Spain" by Gonzalo López Elorriaga (Madrid School of Architecture)
The jury emphasized the innovative appeal of this provocative project, entitled Castilla la MaRcha, "using ceramic tiles as a star feature in a journey from depopulated Spain to an enjoyed Spain".
It involves the creation of a leisure and entertainment resort unlike other conventional ones, promoting a rural setting in order to revitalize an abandoned space in the town of Peralvillo, while also "highlighting its value through an efficient unorthodox programme aimed at generating profits and attracting a new population". The project uses traditional-format ceramic tiles in ground-breaking new ways.
A special mention was awarded to "A civic centre and temporary accommodation at La Asunción former factory" by Mariona Dalmau Benavent (Seville School of Architecture)
The project involved the design of facilities for a neighbourhood with a civic centre and temporary accommodation for evicted families. The jury praised the project's restrained sobriety. The existing building is surrounded by a series of box-like volumes, distributed in such a way that Cerdà's original urban grid has been maintained, generating a new model with a permeable layout and façades with a visually porous design. This contributes to an environmentally efficient ensemble, with an urban design worthy of admiration.
A special mention was also awarded to "Hortus Conclusus" by Teresa Clara Martínez López (Madrid School of Architecture).
The project aims to link Lisbon's old quarter to San Jorge Castle and to prolong the existing gardens along the bottom of the hillside through a series of platforms on different levels.
The jury highlighted the project's precision and its rich formal outcome, using ceramic tiles to offer a richly expressive, highly creative future vision of the city and its urban fabric.