On 24 November, the final jury of the 19th edition of the Barcelona Ceramics Chair of UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, took place in the Aula Jardí room on the Barcelona Campus. This year’s edition was developed under the title “Ceramic Panels for Industrialised Construction.” Over the course of five weeks, some twenty students of the Chair worked on developing proposals in order to design new pieces, moving ahead in the applicability in the field of industrialized construction.

The jury for this new edition included Víctor Echarri, director of UIC Barcelona School of Architecture; Ferran Ventura, assistant director of the Higher Technical School of Architecture (E.T.S. de Arquitectura) of Malaga, and Xavier Martí, of OAB Architecture. 

The rector of UIC Barcelona, Alfonso Méndiz, had the opportunity to learn about the students' proposals before the jury made its decision. He was accompanied by the director of UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, Víctor Echarri; Chair director, Vicenç Sarrablo; and by Chair lecturers, Jordi Rovíras and Cristina García-Castelao. The rector congratulated the students, emphasised the importance of the role of the Ceramics Chair and pointed out that creativity is a key element in architecture and society. Vicenç Sarrablo also addressed the students and congratulated them on their work and encouraged them in their professional future, “Architecture is a very demanding career and it is easy to get lost at any time and feel shipwrecked. But here, you have all successfully reached good harbour, and for us, it has been a great honour to accompany you on the voyage.” 

Winning projects
The winning projects were announced mid-afternoon. Winners of this 19th edition of the Chair were Agathe Zgorecki, Thelma Rut Gudbrandsdottir y Ana González. The jury highlighted that Agathe Zgorecki’s piece “is structurally capable of building spaces on its own.” The jury pointed out that Thelma Ruth Gudbrandsdottir’s piece was a “very beautiful piece with a great capacity for combination.” The jury noted that Ana González’s project is “a brilliant, subtle and elegant solution. A piece, or system, that generates rich architectural spaces by itself.”

In closing, Vicenç Sarrablo thanked the students for their hard work and highlighted the quality of all the proposals. 

The UIC Barcelona Ceramics Chair has been running for the 19 consecutive years thanks to the sponsorship of the Spanish Ceramic Tile Manufacturers’ Association (ASCER). The aim of the Chair is to promote contact between Architecture students and the industry so that future architects can aim their proposals toward ceramics, creating new formats or developing new applications and features in