Winners of the AHI European Award for Architectural Heritage Interventions

The winning entry in the Exterior Spaces category, chosen by an international jury made up of the architects Chris Rankin, Pasqual Herrero and Maria Viñé, is the ecological restoration of the garden of El Tanque Public Garden, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, by the architect Fernando Menis. El Tanque is set in a post-industrial area that has been a listed heritage site since 2014. The ecological restoration of its garden has provided the Cabo Llanos neighbourhood in Santa Cruz de Tenerife with its first green public space.

The jury considers that the project “works with ecology and heritage to offer a creative, cultural and socially inclusive public space. The project demonstrates sensitivity at all scales, including in the reuse of industrial waste for the design of furniture and lighting.”. The garden of El Tanque
“is a very complete project in terms of sustainability, social benefits and respect for local identity and landscape design.”

Award in the Urban Planning category
© Jon Tugores/Ajuntament de Barcelona

In the Urban Planning category, the international jury made up of the architects Sara Bartumeus, Maria Chiara Tosi and Carlo Atzeni has given the Award to the project for the regeneration of the Gràcia neighbourhoods of Barcelona, undertaken by the Jornet Llop Pastor Arquitectes office in conjunction with the Department of Urban Planning of Barcelona City Council.

The jury praised the winning project for its “innovative proposal for addressing the challenges of contemporaneity, climate change and social inclusivity through affordable housing within the historical context of its location. The project transfers the principles of the conservation of built heritage to urban structure, to the ordinary urban landscape, and proposes an urban planning regulation that incorporates the environmental dimension.” The involvement of the private sector in the environmental restoration project has also been highlighted.

Award in the Disclosure category


Finally, the winning entry chosen by the international jury in the Disclorure category, made up of the architects Devi Kituashvili, Nicola Regusci and Verena von Beckerath, is the documentary “La vie en kit, une aventure architecturale”, by the Belgian architect and filmmaker Elodie Degavre. The film tells the story of how four architects in the 1970s thought about the houses of the future, creating eclectic projects in the cities of Brussels, Charleroi and Liège, with the aim of putting dwellers and their needs at the centre of the construction process. The film was co-produced by Radio Télévision Belge Francophone (RTBF).

The jury commended the project for “the unique nature of its subject matter, which allows us to discover the little- known story of a group of architects who adopted a utopian and idealistic approach, and whose way of understanding architecture has gained relevance today.” The jury also highlighted the variety of shots and angles used in the documentary, “successfully transmitting the compactness and functionality of the architecture it shows.”

New European Bauhaus Special Mention

© Adrià Goula

Turning to the New European Bauhaus (NEB) Special Mention, the jury made up of the directors of the Award – the architects Ramon Calonge, Oriol Cusidó, Marc Manzano and Jordi Portal – together with the MEP Marcos Ros has awarded this Special Mention to the project for the conversion of an office building in Sant Feliu de Llobregat into an emergency social housing unit of 34 dwellings, carried out by the MIM-A office (of the architects Mariona Benedito and Martí Sanz).

The jury lauded the conversion for “perfectly combining and reflecting all the values of the New European Bauhaus: sustainability, thanks to the improvement and optimisation of the envelopes to achieve better energy efficiency and natural lighting; beauty, through the improvement of the built surface; and inclusivity, inherent to emergency housing, in this case achieving living spaces of the highest quality with a great economy of means.” The conversion project “is an excellent response – elegantly and efficiently resolved – to the current social demand.”

The other winning entry of this Special Mention is the Master Plan for the Integrated Restoration of the Neighbourhood of Las Flores in A Coruña, by the architectural firm Territoris XLM and BCQ Arquitectura.

The jury has considered this project “an inspiration, whose most valuable aspect is the integrated and social nature of the proposal, which addresses a widespread problem throughout Europe by proposing innovative solutions that favour a sector of the population – the elderly – deserving of special attention.”

Restoration Special Mention

© Michiel Vergauwe

The jury of the Restoration Special Mention, made up of the directors of the Award – the architects Ramon Calonge, Oriol Cusidó, Marc Manzano and Jordi Portal – together with the architect Pedro Rodríguez Cantalapiedra, has awarded this Special Mention to the restoration project of the Gruuthusemuseum in Bruges, Belgium, a project carried out by the B-juxta architecten office.

The jury has highlighted three key aspects of this project that make it unique: “its methodology, encompassing every aspect from the analysis of historical documentation to the detail of finishes and final materials; the construction and decorative techniques employed following the original lines, in relation to the volume of the work; and, last but not least, the sincere and clear approach to the project, maintaining the previous elements and colours, contributing to its permanence and conservation.”

 

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Press release and photos courtesy of the European Award AHI