Former students José Luis Cisneros and Joan Casals from UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, and founders of the studio Ágora Arquitectura, have won the silver Emporia Award for best assembly of an ephemeral, portable and travelling exhibition with their project, PRONAOS. This installation was designed by UIC Barcelona’s Alumni & Careers management team for the 2019 Promise events. 

The project is a metaphor for the struggle faced by recent graduates who are trying to access the job market. The creation is made from a platform that features 170 vertical black tubes and was inspired by the vestibules designed to gain access to Greek temples, known as pronaos.

“At first glance, the structure looks completely impenetrable”, explain the architects, “then when you look a bit closer, it seems to reveal its entrance with floating words that remind us of the values we learn during our formative years”.

It’s the second year running that José Luis Cisneros and Joan Casals have been presented with EMPORIA Awards. Last year, their project “Refugio para fin de semana” (Weekend refuge) was awarded first prize for Best Eco Stand. The EMPORIA Awards are Spanish awards for ephemeral architecture and are organised by the Association of Interior Designers and Decorators of Catalonia (CODIC) and Veredictas International.