16/07/2020

Architecture students defend their Final Degree Projects (TFGs) addressing the new urban definition of the industrial estate Carretera del Mig (Hospitalet de Llobregat)

The jury was attended by Iñaki Alday, Dean of the Tulane School of Architecture (New Orleans) and sponsor of the 2019-2020 year of graduates

On 15 July, eight 5th year students from the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture defended their Final Degree Projects. The students’ projects intervened in the Carrer del Mig industrial estate, located in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, a clear example of an urban perimeter characterised by obsolete industrial activity and is in need of a contemporary approach to rethinking the role of infrastructures and integrating the country-city duality from an ecological perspective. To this end, the students proposed new uses for the area ranging from the conversion of old industrial buildings to collaborative housing, the freeing up of industrial land and the recovery of agricultural uses or the generation of a new network of cultural facilities.

The director of UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, Josep Lluís i Ginovart, opened the event, in which the jury was attended by the TFG teaching staff, the architect Iñaki Alday, dean of the Tulane School of Architecture (New Orleans), Duna Bellmunt, member of the Board of Governors of the College of Architects of Catalonia (COAC) and Justo Orgaz, president of the Green Building Council Spain. 

CEIM Sustainability Awards

For the 8th successive year, alongside the TFG defences, the CEIM Sustainability Awards were given out, organised by the Chair in Industrial Construction and the Environment and which are aimed at promoting sustainability and innovation in the construction sector. Each year, they recognise the best projects in this regard from among the TFGs submitted by final year Architecture students at UIC Barcelona.

The first prize went to the student Cristian Lopez for his project “I walk too,” the jury stressed, “for a profound development of various sustainability issues, in this case especially of energy efficiency and the ability to incorporate it into architecture in a comprehensive way.”  Student Ariadna Rodríguez de San Gregorio was the winner of the second prize for her project “AgriCultural”, of which the jury highlighted “her contribution in the field of social sustainability”.

The jury was composed of Sustainability lecturer Mauro Manca, Justo Orgaz as a special guest, Teresa Batlle (Pich Architects) and Jordi Guivernau (Rockwool Peninsular) as representatives of the CEIM Chair's sponsor companies.  “We are immersed in the definition of a new building model that will give rise to an architectural language of this time. The projects presented demonstrate the clear intention of UIC Barcelona School of Architecture to consider sustainability as a further angle of reflection in the earliest stages of conception, and this is clearly a success,” Justo Orgaz emphasized in the awards’ presentation. 

Schindler Accessibility Awards

As part of the defence of the Final Degree Projects, the 8th Schindler España Accessibility Awards were also made, which are awarded to the three best projects that, due to their quality, innovation, originality or creativity, highlight the solutions facilitating universal mobility and accessibility.

The first prize went to the student Héctor Muñoz Andrés, for his project “Mobility Buffer”. The second prize went to student Cristian Lopez for his project “I walk too” and the third prize went to student Manuel Gomis for his project “Stitching Bellvitge Together”. 

The jury for the awards comprised the Accessibility Area of the school, Enrique Rovira-Beleta, the project professors and the director of Ascensores Schindler, Xavier Vallcorba i Borrel.