Last Wednesday 26th November, the panel of judges for the Tile of Spain Awards in the categories of architecture and interior design – presided over by architect Emilio Tuñón – met in Castellón to decide the winners of the thirteenth edition of these Awards. First prize in the architecture category went to a restored house in Lisbon’s historic quarter, while in the interior design category, the winning project was a restoration of a historic building in Betxà (province of Castellón). Two special mentions were also made in this category: a magnificent restoration project in Barcelona and a grocery store.
The judges decided to award first prize in the architecture category to the project entitled “House in PrÃncipe Real” (Lisbon) by the CAMARIM Arquitectos Studio (Vasco Correia and Patricia Sousa). The judges praised this project, highlighting in particular “the brilliant interpretation in the use of ceramic tiles in Lisbon’s historic quarter. The house, built on five floors, looks out onto the street boasting a new textured take on the traditional ceramic tile façade”.
First prize in the interior design category was awarded to the project entitled “Restoration of the Cloister at Betxà Castle” by El Fabricante de Espheras studio. The judges remarked on the conceptual transformation of the interior space of the cloister through the inclusion of a large mirrored surface that forms a “virtual construction” of half of the lost Renaissance cloister. The work focuses on recovering the cloister space by including a traditional terracotta wall.
Finally, the Tile of Spain Awards also included a category to acknowledge the best Final Degree Project undertaken by students at architecture schools, where the use of ceramic tiles plays a major role.The judges agreed to award first prize in the Final Degree Project category to ‘Alfama 2.0’ by María González Aranguren, a student at the Madrid School of Architecture (ETSAM). The judges were impressed by this project to restore Lisbon’s Alfama district, making particular mention of the high standard of the proposal, both in terms of urban planning and architecture. They also admired the optimistic construction interpretation of Lisbon’s traditional ceramic tile façades.
The Tile of Spain Awards, which this year have reached their thirteenth edition, enjoy widespread acknowledgement in the world of architecture, undoubtedly attributable to their brilliant trajectory to date. Both the prestige of the various panels of judges and the standard of the winning projects, have earned these awards, organised by ASCER, a consolidated reputation on the Spanish and international architecture scenes.
The panel of judges selected for this latest edition was also made up of outstanding professionals of repute. It was chaired by architect Emilio Tuñón, founder, together with the late and sadly-missed Luis Moreno Mansilla of the Mansilla + Tuñón Arquitectos studio, winner of prestigious awards such as the Mies van der Rohe Award and the Spanish National Architecture Award. The panel of judges also included Italian architect Cino Zucchi; the executive director of the Pritzker Awards, Martha Thorne; Indian architect Anupama Kundoo; young architect José María Sánchez, who recently received BSI Swiss Architectural Award for architects under 50 whose work has contributed to improving the theory and practice of contemporary architecture; Fernando Márquez Cecilia, editor and director of El Croquis architecture journal; and the Castellón-born architect Ramón Monfort.
