NEWS & EVENTS / PROJETCS / Wooden Architecture Awards Ceremony
Ombú, from the Foster & Partners studio, best wooden architecture project executed and finished in 2022.
Porta Trinitat Community Center, by HazArquitectura and Gabriel García Márquez Library, by the Suma studio, accésits.
Last October 31st, the AITIM – ASA – ONESTA Wooden Architecture Awards ceremony was held at the Postgraduate headquarters of the University of Navarra in Madrid. The event was very well received, bringing together renowned personalities from the architecture, construction, forestry and wood industry.
Organized by AITIM (Asociación de Investigación de las Industrias de la Madera), ASA (Asociación Sostenibilidad y Arquitectura) and Onesta, whose participation is framed under the umbrella of the Cátedra Madera Onesta of the University of Navarra, the event began with a few words from Mr. Manuel Fonseca, vice president of ASA and president of the jury, who highlighted the quality of the 21 projects participating in the call.
Iñaqui Carnicero, Director General of the Urban Agenda and Architecture of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, who took the opportunity to emphasize the strategic role of architecture in politics and the importance of all the measures that the Ministry is taking to promote sustainable and quality architecture.
For his part, Mr. Patxi Mangado, professor at the School of Architecture of the University of Navarra and Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts 2022, mentioned the importance of creating a coherent architecture that is not subject to fashions and that always seeks to use the materials and techniques that best fit in each case. He highlighted the excellent properties of wood, noting that it is a timeless material, with soul, that evolves with time and has been able to adapt to new technologies.
This edition of the awards has presented many new features with respect to previous editions. It was the first to hold a prize-giving ceremony, to introduce a €2,000 prize for the winning project and, in addition, it was the first to award a trophy to the winning project.
After the two speeches by the sponsors, the awards were presented. The award for the best Wood 2022 project went to Foster+Partners for the Ombú project. The award was collected by Ms. Taba Rasti and Mr. Pablo Urango, Senior Partners and Directors of the Foster + Partners office in Madrid. Both had a few minutes to explain the main characteristics of the project. A highly complex project that highlights the respect and use of the pre-existing building, the connection between interior and exterior spaces and, of course, its high commitment to sustainability.
In addition to the main prize, two runner-up prizes were awarded, one of them to the HazArquitectura studio (Manuel Sánchez Villanueva and Carol Beuter) for their project Porta Trinitat Community Center. It highlights the search for the essential, for materials organized in a very precise order, in attractive and well-conditioned spaces. On the other hand, second prize was also awarded to the Gabriel García Márquez Library project, by the Suma studio (Elena Orte and Guillermo Sevillano) for its exploration of the structural limits of the CLT and its spectacular volumetry inspired by the “book” object.
This edition of the awards has presented many new features regarding previous editions. It was the first in which an award ceremony was held, a prize of €2,000 was introduced for the winning project and, in addition, it was the first in which a trophy was awarded to the winning project.
The piece, with a high level of design, was created by José Luis Ramos Caballero, from the Ramos Caballero studio and executed by Carpintería Moyano.