On Thursday 28 November, the 16th UIC Barcelona School of Architecture Ceramics Chair held its final panel session. This year’s event was based on the theme of solar control and the Architecture students’ work was centred on the development of projects with ceramic prototypes that avoid glare and overheating in buildings with a significant amount of glazing in their facade.

As part of the session, 26 fourth-year Architecture students presented to the panel the projects they had been working on for the last few months. The members of the jury for the 16th year of the awards were Fermín Vázquez, from b720 Arquitectos, Antoni Barceló, from Barceló&Balanzo Arquitectes, Silvia Brandi, from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), Pedro Bronchal, representative of INALCO and Eve Pedrajas, head of business communication of the Spanish Association of Tile Manufacturers (ASCER). The Director of UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, Josep Lluís i Ginovart, and the Director of the Chair, Vicenç Sarrablo, were also present, alongside the coordinators and lecturers Cristina Garcia-Castelao and Jordi Roviras. 

At the end of the afternoon, the three winning projects were announced. The award in the Laminatges (“Laminates”) category went to Valentina Risemberg for her project, Ojiva (“Ogive”), which the jury considered showed the “adequate systematisation of a building design that is very consistent through all its stages of development.” “Orizuru” by Nino Mgeladze, was the winner in the Plegades, doblegades (“Folded, doubled”) category, because “it is based on a complex idea in terms of concept and form, taking the idea of origami as a starting point, with a result that is poetic and real at the same time.” Lastly, in the Volumètriques (“Volumetrics”) category, the prize went to Olivia Sarrà Gómez’s project "Versus", which the jury highlighted "achieves a rich and flexible piece based on an economy of means, and generates a lattice system applicable to other projects.”

The UIC Barcelona School of Architecture’s Ceramics Chair has been in place for 16 years, and is supported by the Spanish Ceramic Tile Manufacturers' Association (ASCER).  Its aim is to foster close cooperation between the university and the Spanish ceramics industry, which is one of the most important in the world. “It is quite extraordinary that, 16 years on, we are still driving innovation from UIC Barcelona, thanks to the support of the industry,” noted Vicenç Sarrablo, lecturer and director of the Ceramics Chair.