Casa Panchés (Construction), The joy of living-Bizipoza (Interior Design), Sistema Mohma (Product Design) were recognised in the three main categories

Special awards went to Galenicum 1822 (Local Wood-Basque Quality), Entremutilvas social rental housing (BEM) and the publication Madeira/Madera/Wood (Publication)

The jury of the competition, which publicly recognises proposals that promote the use of wood, has highlighted the ‘high quality’ of the 89 projects presented, as well as their ‘sensitivity in the use’ of this material.

The jury of the Egurtek Awards today announced the winning projects in the competition, which forms part of the 10th International Forum on Architecture and Construction in Wood at Bilbao Exhibition Centre. The award ceremony will take place during the tenth edition of Egurtek on 16 and 17 October. All proposals will be displayed in the event’s Expo Zone, as well as on the forum and COAVN’s website.

Specifically, 89 applications have been submitted: 46 in Construction, 32 in Interior Design, 11 in Product Design. 22 proposals opted for the special Basque Quality awards, and 11 for the Bois/Egurra/Madera award. The jury of the Egurtek Awards valued “the high quality of the projects presented and the sensitivity seen in the use of wood in them all.”

In the Construction section, the prize went to Casa Panchés in Carnota (La Coruña), by the architects Óscar Andrés Quintela and Iván Andrés Quintela. It is a house overlooking the sea with a regular pentagon-shaped floor plan and entirely built in wood. Its exterior is clad with unfinished heat-treated pine wood, which “promotes its greying for better integration with other granite stone buildings on the site.”

The second prize went to Berbés Uvigo, in Ribera de Berbés (Vigo), signed by Elizabeth Ábalo Díaz and Gonzalo Alonso Núñez, a project for the university in the Galician city that is built on the remains of an old building that was in a very deteriorated state. With stone arcades, both the structure and the rest of the architectural elements are made of wood. The architects define it as “a box within a box; wood and stone.”

In the Interior Design category, Iñaki Albistur Martín and Raquel Ares Joana won with The joy of living-Bizipoza, a design for the integral refurbishment of a wood structure building. “The ease with which a sober interior space has been created, in shapes and colours, using and lending great prominence to the knotty fir wood used to make all the pieces of furniture and some partitions,” emphasised the jury.

The Product Design Award went to Sistema Mohma, by the architects Francisco Mangado Beloqui and Fernando Oíza Redín, a “resounding” proposal, as well as “formally attractive and environmentally responsible.” The jury highlighted “the balance achieved between the standardisation of its components and the versatility of the products on offer,” which benefits its quality-cost ratio.

The new offices for Galenicum 1822 (Barcelona), by architect Xabier Ros Majó, have won the special Local Wood Award (Basque Quality). The members of the Jury highlighted “the significant added value that comes with reusing an existing industrial building and adapting it to its new use in a simple, agile and intelligent way using locally-sourced and -machined prefabricated MCL wood elements.” A “doubly” sustainable approach that demonstrates the “technological and ecological versatility” of this material in this type of intervention.

The special BEM (Bois/Egurra/Madera) prize recognised social rental housing in Entremutilvas (Navarre), designed by the architects Javier Pérez Herreras, Francisco Javier Quintana de Uña, Edurne Pérez Díaz de Arcaya, Roberto Erviti Machain, Miguel Alonso Flamarique, Mª Carmen Escorihuela Vitales and Unai Armendáriz Vidaurre. They use pre-industrialised wood “as part of a paradigm shift that serves as a model for the future commitment to greater use of pre-industrialised building systems, especially in sustainable materials such as wood,” the jury noted.

Finally, in the category of Publication, the award went to the technical series of publications Madeira/Madera/Wood by Cesuga “for its contribution to training professionals using knowledge of the techniques of calculation, design, intervention and inspection in historic structures.

The jury, chaired by José María González-Pinto, the Dean of the Official Basque-Navarre College of Architects, consists of José Antonio Barea (University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU); Javier Cenicacelaya (Infoedita); Oskar Azkarate, (Baskegur); Beñat Saratxaga, (Behark Arkitektura), Andoni Díaz (College of Designers and Decorators of Biscay), Jon Abad (Basque Design Association-EIDE) and Leire Fuente (COAVN).