Nino Mgeladze, Oscar Morte and Carla Sans were the winners of the first, second and third prizes of the 9th Schindler Lifts Accessibility Awards, which honour the Final Degree Projects (TFG) of the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture that address accessibility from a global perspective with the aim of improving the quality of life for all.
The awards were presented on 15 July in the l’Harmonia space in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, coinciding with the opening of the exhibition “L’H: Hub of Hubs. Social Challenges and Urban Reprogramming”, which showcases the Final Degree Projects (TFG) carried out by the School's students.
Student Nino Mgeladze won first prize –and €1,500– for his project “SUPRA. Energy Self-Suficient School of Arts”, which envisages the creation of a university for the performing and artistic arts over the train tracks, which, in turn, acts as an urban bridge for the neighbourhood connecting both sides of the railway. Student Oscar Morte won second prize –and €900– for his project “Infill. Sustainable Housing Cooperative”, which proposes the re-densification and rehabilitation of mid-20th century housing in L'Hospitalet to generate a new cooperative housing model that meets accessibility and sustainability criteria. The third prize –of €300– was awarded to student Carla Sans, for her project “Habita Sol”, in which she proposes the creation of a social-cultural space and the re-urbanisation of public space based on accessibility criteria.
The jury was composed of the Final Degree Project lecturers, Iñaki Baquero and Ferran Grau, lecturer and head of the Accessibility Area, Enrique Rovira-Beleta, and the managing director of Ascensores Schindler in Catalonia, Xavier Vallcorba.
The students awarded the first and second prizes will have the chance to take part in the 9th edition of the Schindler Spain Architecture Awards, in which TFG students from other Spanish schools of architecture may also partake. The students from the 2019-2020 academic year Héctor Muñoz and Cristian López will also attend this year’s awards, as last year they were cancelled due to the pandemic.
