The winners of both initiatives received their awards at the ceremony, after which the exhibition of their work was opened and the publication MMXIX was presented
Ceremony
Last Wednesday, June 12, the awards ceremony for the Driehaus Architecture Competition took place in the Arqueria de los Nuevos Ministerios. The event was chaired by the Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport and Housing, Pedro Saura García, by the Director General of Architecture, Housing and Land, Javier Martín Ramiro, by Richard H. Driehaus, by Harriet Wennberg, Director of INTBAU, by Laureano Matas, Secretary of the Superior Council of Colleges of Architects of Spain and by Alejandro García Hermida, Director of the initiatives that Driehaus promotes in Spain and Portugal.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Driehaus remembered Donald Gray, recently deceased, winner of the Manzano Prize and member of the jury of both initiatives: “He will be missed. But his strong spirit lives on in these awards, inasmuch as they continue the tradition that he defended so well.”
The first to be honored were the winners of the Building Arts Awards, whose purpose is to recover and revalue disciplines on the verge of extinction due to the abandonment of old trades in favor of standardized products. The winners in the four categories were: master Anna Santolaria in glassmaking; Lluc Mir from Mallorca, specialist in the construction of dry stone walls; Miguel Ángel Balmaseda from Écija in the category of woodwork; and Luis Prieto from León, master in stuccos and natural pigments, in the decorative finishing category. All of them expressed their gratitude for the visibility these awards are giving to trades nearly forgotten, but nonetheless essential for the preservation of heritage.
Next, the Driehaus Architecture Competition awards were presented. This competition was created with the purpose of helping the recovery of traditional architecture in Spain. The locations selected this year were Olite (Navarra) and Béjar (Salamanca). This competition becomes a great opportunity for municipalities that have been unable to afford the rehabilitation of their spaces. First to receive their award were architects Abelardo Linares and Elena Jiménez for their proposal “Béjar before the mirror”. After them, the team of architects comprised of Xavier and Lucía Espinós Bermejo, Estefanía Fernández-Cid and Rodrigo Toro received their prize for ‘Cerquo’. The mayors of both municipalities had a few words of thanks to the participants.
Finally, Richard H. Driehaus stated: “All the winners are an inspiration to me. An important bridge between the past and the present. I hope that winning this award will encourage you to persevere in the continuation of Spanish architectural traditions”.
The Exhibition
Following the ceremony, the exhibition was inaugurated. It presents each year the projects awarded in the Richard H. Driehaus Architecture Competition, as well as the works of the winners of the Richard H. Driehaus Awards for Building Arts, thanks to the Ministry de Fomento, will remain open to the public from June 13 to July 28 at the Arqueria de Nuevos Ministerios. Admission is free.
New Traditional Architecture MMXIX Publication
The book New Traditional Architecture MMXIX is now available for free download. Like every year, it presents the projects awarded in the Richard H. Driehaus Architecture Competition, as well as the works of the winners of the Richard H. Driehaus Awards for Building Arts.
