The professor and director of the Technical Area of the ESARQ School of Architecture is a partner at the BCQ architecture firm, which just won first prize in the Best Industrial and Logistics Development category of the 2013 MIPIM Awards. MIPIM is one of the most important real estate trade shows and is held in Cannes, France. Manel Peribáñez, a former ESARQ student, also works at BCQ.
As described by Baena, “The project involved integrating a new environmental facility and an interpretation centre for the Alt Maresme Nord wastewater treatment plant in Tordera-Pineda de Mar into the landscape”. It is the first time a project by a Catalan architecture firm has won an MIPIM award.
At a critical time for the architecture industry and construction in general, “receiving an international award is very encouraging”, according to Prof. Baena, “but, above all, it tells us we should continue to focus on creativity and excellence”. In fact, he said, “Because the crisis has forced us to execute the project in phases, it's still under construction, so we were surprised they gave us the award”.
MIPIM is an abbreviation in French that stands for Le Marché International des Professionnels de l’Immobilier, or International Market for Real Estate Professionals. It is a trade fair that has been held every year in March since 1990 at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France. The MIPIM Awards have been presented since 1991 to the most outstanding real estate projects. In the 2013 edition, awards were granted in the following categories: Best Hotel and Tourism Resort, Best Industrial and Logistics Development, Best Office and Business Development, Best Refurbished Building, Best Residential Development, Best Shopping Centre, Best Futura Project, Best Futura Mega Project, Best Turkish Project, People's Choice Award and the Special Jury Award.
