15/04/2016

Students from UIC Barcelona School of Architecture recently received an award at the XIII BEAU Architecture and Urbanism Awards

For the third consecutive year, students from UIC Barcelona School of Architecture have been awarded at the XIII BEAU Architecture and Urbanism Awards. This time they were awarded under the category of Disclosure at the XII BEAU Research Awards, based on a double exhibition project entitled “Examinarse en el Museo Nacional de Arte de Catalunya” (Sitting an Exam in the Catalan National Art Museum).

Both editions, entitled “Interactive geographies” and “Cutting-edge landscapes” respectively, were based on four shared concepts: the city (the metropolitan area of Barcelona) the landscape (the source of the Besòs River), the programme (topics related to water or the river bank) and the format (held in the Oval Room in the MNAC). The exhibitions, which were organised by final year project professors and created by 2014 and 2015 students respectively, had to involve the following: recycling, accessibility, speed and sponsorship.

This format highlights three important aspects in the Social Projection of Architecture: the social dimension of the content, the social awareness of students and the social projection of architecture. Therefore, the jury underlined the proposal of promoting the social transfer of architecture in broader social environments that are open to society.

“Bellvitge 50” was also awarded under the Disclosure category. This project consists of a travelling exhibition and a book co-written by Sandra Bestraten and Emili Hormias, both Professors from UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, which was presented in September 2015. The publication of the book coincided with the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the first inhabitants in that area. This research and documentation project analyses the transformation of the Bellvitge neighbourhood over the last 50 years, which is when the first inhabitants arrived there.

The travelling exhibition entitled Barcelona Ceramics, which this year is celebrating the ten year anniversary of the Barcelona Ceramics Chair, was a finalist in the same category. The jury also awarded the Flexibrick ceramic material under the Product for this first Research Call Category, which was designed by Vicenç Sarrablo, and also the prefabricated ceramic arch from Casa CDS1 by the architect Juan Trias de Bes (TdB Arquitectura). Both of them are professors at UIC Barcelona School of Architecture.