The UIC Barcelona School of Architecture has once again left its mark at the prestigious ceramics design competition. Students from the Ceramics Chair, directed by Vicenç Sarrablo, along with lecturers Jordi Roviras and Cristina García Castelao, were repeat winners for the 16th year in a row.  

Student Marc Farrés won first prize in Category A, “Ceramic products shaped by semi-dry pressing”.  The winning project, Hèlix, involves the creation of a system of ceramic pieces to filter light inside glass buildings. The jury underlined the fact that “it is a rational and functional application of ceramic elements, a flexible system which allows pieces to be changed or modified over the course of time, creating various aesthetic patterns, as well as filtering sunlight in different ways”.  

Student Guillermo Marfà won first prize in Category B, “Ceramic products shaped through other means”. His project, Greenbrick, is a multifunctional piece that “is as much a lattice, as it is a covering for a façade, a weight-bearing wall or a planter”, in his own words.  This is the third consecutive year that Marfà has won a prize in this competition. 

Finally, student Lucciana Viteri won second prize in Category B for her project Estalactita. The jury highlighted the fact that “the reinvention of a traditional extruded piece creates an aesthetic game that can be adapted to all types of façades to regulate sun exposure, according to the wishes of the designer”.  

“We do not have enough adjectives to describe our excitement during this sixteenth edition. Three awards out of four this year and a history of being awarded without fail since 2004 when we set up the Chair, who could have believed it when we started?” said Vicenç Sarrablo. 

The prize-winning projects will be exhibited in pavillion 6 of the Cevisama Design Hall at the Fira de València, between 3 and 7 February. The students will collect their prizes on Friday 7 February at 1 p.m.