The prestigious annual Tile of Spain Awards in Architecture and Interior Design return for the 16th time with a refreshed identity and a total prize fund of €39,000 across three categories: Architecture, Interior Design and Final Degree Project.  To be considered, projects can be located anywhere in the world, but must make significant use of Spanish ceramics and must have been completed between January 2015 and October 2017.

Established to foster and promote an appreciation of Spanish ceramic tiles in architecture and interior design, the Tile of Spain Awards are sponsored by Endesa, Vodafone, Port Authority of Valencia and CESCE.  After many years of encouraging, discovering and rewarding the creative use of Spanish tiles, this year the awards have adopted a more contemporary image.  The website has also been rebuilt and relaunched with a promotional video that has been shared widely on social media.

Spanish architect Iñaki Ábalos, Chairman of judges, is the founder of the international architecture studio Abalos + Sentkiewicz.  He is currently Professor at ETSAM and resident Professor and Chair of Department of Architecture at the GSD of Harvard, with which ASCER has a long-established collaboration.  The panel of judges also includes Ángela García de Paredes from Paredes Pedrosa Arquitectos; Víctor Navarro of Langarita-Navarro; Portuguese architect, Bak Gordon; Moisés Puente, the Editor of 2G’s; designer Martín Azúa; and Ramón Monfort from the Castellón Architects Professional Association.

The Awards carry a prize fund of €39,000.  The two main categories are Architecture and Interior Design; each with a cash prize of €17,000. The primary entry requirement is that each project must feature ceramic tiles manufactured in Spain.  The third category is the Final Degree Project, aimed at students of architecture, and offering a cash prize of €5,000.

In last year’s awards, the prize for the architecture category went to a renovation project for two homes in Oropesa, Toledo by the Paredes Pedrosa studio.  The TABA gastro space by Ibon Salaberria at the Tabakalera Culture Centre in San Sebastian received the Interior Design award.  In the Final Degree Project category, In Situ by M Wesam Al Asali from The University of Cambridge was awarded first prize. Images, reports and blueprints from previous editions of the Awards are available on the website.

Registration is now open, with a project submission deadline of 24th October 2017. Entry is free. For further information visit www.tileofspainawards.com.

A new post by Joe Simpson, Diary of a Tile Addict, August 2017.