Winners of the Gaudí Architecture and Urban Planning Award

On Tuesday, June 11, the 2024 Gaudí Architecture and Urban Planning Awards of the City of Castelldefels took place. Granted by the Gaudí Association of Castelldefels, together with the territorial group of COAC, architects of Baix Llobregat, these awards aim to highlight an open architecture that has creativity and technology, health and well-being, and urban spaces and nature as its pillars—instruments to improve our homes, our spaces, our cities, and our metropolis.

These awards pay tribute, on the 98th anniversary of his death, to the great architect Antoni Gaudí, nature made architecture. In his first work built in the city of Barcelona, he expressed: “When I went to take measurements of the site, it was completely covered with yellow flowers, which I adopted as the ornamental theme for the ceramics. I also found an exuberant dwarf palm, whose leaves, cast in iron, fill the grid of the fence and the entrance gate to the house.” With these words, Joan Bergós, disciple and close friend of Antoni Gaudí, conveys how the architect’s inspiration arose when conceiving one of the most characteristic motifs of Casa Vicens: the ceramic tiles with carnations and the iron fence cast with the dwarf palm.

Slow Studio was among the various studios honored for their work in architecture of natural and sustainable spaces, energy-efficient and adaptable to an evolving society, alongside distinguished studios such as:

• Roger Sauquet Llonch. For his contribution, from his professional practice, to teaching and research. The past and future of architecture.
• Meritxell Inaranja Genís. For her contribution and interpretation of the architecture of Josep Lluís Sert and Josep Torres Clavé in the rehabilitation of the Unión de Cooperadores building in Gavà.
• Lacol Arquitectura Cooperativa. For their contribution to the generation of infrastructure for eco-social transition, cooperativism, and participation.
• Sonia Hernández of Estudio Arquitectura Sana. For her contribution to healthy architecture and bio-construction in project development, consulting, and teaching.
• Plataforma Aireamos. For their contribution to evaluating air renewal conditions in shared indoor spaces to reduce airborne transmission. Understanding air quality by measuring CO2 levels.
• Batlle i Roig. For their contribution to hydrating urban spaces through Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems and Nature-Based Solutions.
• Rethink Project of the Barcelona Society for Economic and Social Studies of Foment del Treball. For their contribution to addressing challenges and activating the Barcelona metropolis.