Social housing in Barcelona wins RIBA International Prize 2024

A social housing venture in Barcelona by native studio Peris + Toral Arquitectes has been named the winner of this yr’s RIBA Worldwide Prize.

Named 85 Social Dwellings in Cornellà, the venture was chosen because the winner of the biannual award by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) from a three-strong shortlist.

Peris + Toral Arquitectes was praised for its design that centres on a modular timber framework designed to advertise flexibility for its residents, which the jury mentioned “is each aspirational and demonstrates real change”.

Accomplished in 2022, the housing improvement includes 85 equally-sized residences which are every organised across the central kitchen, which doubles as a principal circulation area.

In keeping with Peris + Toral Arquitectes, this format is designed to make “home labour seen” within the residence, in a bid to problem gender roles and problem conventional residential layouts.

One other key function of 85 Social Dwellings in Cornellà is its modular mass-timber construction, chosen to make sure future adaptability whereas decreasing its carbon footprint and building time.

Novice Structure Studio founder Lu Wenyu, who served as chair of the jury, hailed the venture as a “worthy winner” for its function in setting “a precedent for future developments”.

“Via this progressive method to social housing, Peris + Toral Arquitectes has responded to the shifting calls for of societal groupings by crafting a housing venture that’s adaptive, inclusive and sustainable,” Wenyu mentioned.

“Not outlined by stereotypes or mounted assumptions of what constitutes ‘household’, the clever group of area encourages full of life interplay and connection throughout the group, making certain that the structure capabilities on totally different scales – from the discrete dwelling to the collective area.”

The RIBA Worldwide prize is awarded biennially to a constructing that “demonstrates visionary considering, originality, excellence of execution, and makes a definite contribution to its customers, surrounding setting and communities”.

85 Social Dwellings in Cornellà was chosen forward of the Jacoby Studios workplace by David Chipperfield Architects in Germany and the Lianzhou Museum of Pictures in China by O-office Architects.

London’s Elizabeth Line wins 2024 RIBA Stirling Prize

RIBA president Muyiwa Oki mentioned the successful venture gives a “robust instance of the methods by which architects can create new and implementable options to the frequent problem of making housing for all”.

“Peris + Toral Arquitectes’ inspiring housing venture in Spain embodies the form of transformational spirit that’s each aspirational and demonstrates real change,” Oki mentioned.

“This visionary scheme permits for brand new and future concepts of what constitutes a household, and needs to be seen as a blueprint for delivering sustainable, high quality housing around the globe at scale.”

Earlier winners of the RIBA Worldwide prize embody a rural hospital in Bangladesh by Kashef Chowdhury/URBANA, which gained in 2022, and a boarding college in Brazil by Aleph Zero and Rosenbaum, which gained in 2018.

The RIBA additionally just lately introduced the winner of the distinguished Stirling Prize for 2024. It was awarded to the Elizabeth Line in London by structure studios Grimshaw, Maynard, Equation and AtkinsRéalis.

The pictures is by José Hevia.