Winning projects of the Richard H. Driehaus Architecture Competition 2019-2020

The Richard H. Driehaus Architecture Competition has announced the winners for the 2019-2020 edition. Entries were invited for the second phase of the Competition, in which architects of all nationalities were encouraged to present urban architectural design proposals for any of the four sites selected. A total of 101 design proposals were submited and a second international jury, on which the various institutions collaborating in this initiative will once again be represented, will assess the proposals, selecting for each site the entries that best fulfill the Competition’s criteria. The jury there will also include representatives of the authorities of the three municipalities to which the sites belong.

For Santiago de Compostela, 41 proposals were received, among which the jury selected the one titled ‘Hydrangea’, carried out by the team made up of Eva Niño, Elia San Román and Carmen Carral. The project stands out for the way they carry out the rehabilitation of the series of constructions which are in a state of ruin at present, to turn them into dwellings for artists, retrieving their original shapes and traditional constructive techniques, as well as because of the subtle connection in two different levels of the Rúa da Caramoniña with what today is the park of Santo Domingo de Bonaval.

For Guadix, the proposal selected among the 30 submissions was the one presented with the title ‘Pisando la Tierra’, carried out by the architects Alfonso Zavala and Ramón Andrada, amongst their collaborators José María Fernández Amor and Álvaro Romero Sancho. The proposal is worthy of recognition for the reorganization it suggests of the Plaza Pedro de Mendoza, which gives back the main historic access to the Alcazaba its importance. It was also highlighted for the solution put forward for the residential block, which is in current state of ruin, where the authors of the proposal masterfully put into practice the forms and materials of the tradition of the area of Guadix, with a result which is completely aligned with the identity of this place.

For the town of Alzira a total of 15 design proposals were received. Among them, the jury selected for the first prize the proposal called ‘Ad Fontes’, the work of the studio Jiménez & Linares, from Seville. The project stands out because of its aim to retrieve the urban fabric of the west area of “la Vila” and because of how it gives value to the vestiges of the Almohad wall and the former church of Santa María, where the primitive bell tower is retrieved, turned now into a viewpoint which makes it become the main landmark when one analyses the profile of the city and also the finishing element of the street which runs along its main axis.

Finally, the jury decided to leave the first prize for Santa Cruz de la Palma without it being awarded to any proposal. However, since the jury found notable qualities in several of the projects which were put forward, they decided to award an honourable mention ex aequo to two of them. On the one hand, the one entitled “Artillero” has an excellent proposal for the museum building, based on the island’s architectural tradition. On the other hand, the proposal “Nuevo Bulevar y Museo” resolves with special success the new urban structure for the area, articulated by an attractive boulevard descending towards the sea.

Due to the high quality of the rest of the proposals which were received, the jury has also awarded a total of 9 honorable mentions, awarded with € 2,000 each.

Further information about First Prizes and Honourable Mentions can be found on the following link