Main image: “Living in a Coderch”, a refurbishment project by Estudio Vilablanch, the winner in the interior design category. Photo by Jordi Folch.

The first prize in the architecture category of the Ascer Tile of Spain Awards went to the new headquarters of the Valencia Construction Sector Employment Foundation by MRM Architects. In the interior design category, the winning project was “Living in a Coderch” by Estudio Vilablanch.

The 20th edition

This year was the 20th edition of the Tile of Spain Awards, with a clear evolution in the use of ceramic tiles in architecture and interior design to create highly distinctive projects. MRM Architects used large-format tiles as a linking thread throughout the whole building.

The new headquarters of the Valencia Construction Sector Employment Foundation is set in rural and semi-industrial surroundings. Ceramic tiles were chosen for the construction and image of the new employment centre, keeping with the Valencia region’s cultural and physical backdrop.

Winner of the refurbishment project

Estudio Vilablanch won for their refurbishment project of a historic building originally designed by Coderch. The jury was impressed by the capacity to create vibrant interiors in small spaces, with the rigorous use of a single central tile feature around which all the other spaces revolve. Its radical conceptual philosophy was used to revive a traditional type of home as well as the intensive use of ceramic tiles and colour to create a space with strong poetic connotations.

Special mentions

Malaga University’s Faculty of Psychology and Speech Therapy by Lips Architects received a special mention for the development of an innovative system that forms a continuous shiny skin around the whole building, using round glazed tiles with other smaller ones in the gaps between them.

Two more special mentions were awarded: “A civic centre and temporary accommodations at La Asunción former factory” by Mariona Dalmau Benavent (La Salle School of Architecture) and “Hortus Conclusus” by Teresa Clara Martinez López (Madrid School of Architecture).

Award for students’ prominent use of ceramic tiles

The Tile of Spain Awards includes a category for architecture students who had a project with the prominent use of ceramic tiles. The first prize went to “Castilla La MaRcha, a resort for motivated Spain” by Gonzalo López Elorriaga from Madrid School of Architecture. The innovative appeal of this provocative project, where ceramic tiles play a starring role in a journey from depopulated Spain to an enjoyable Spain, involves the creation of a leisure and entertainment resort. Traditional-format ceramic tiles were used in ground-breaking new ways.

Full acknowledgement and thanks go to Ceraspaña 48 | EN by Ceraspana – Issuu for the information in this editorial.

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