European Prize for Urban Public Space

On 21 May, the sitting took place of the international jury of the Third European Prize for Urban Public Space, awarded by Architekturzentrum Wien (AzW), the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), the Nederlands Architectuurinstituut (NAI), the Architecture Foundation (AF) and the Institut Français d’Architecture (IFA), and sponsored by COPCISA.

The prize was created in 2000 to recognise and promote the movement to recover and create urban public spaces in European cities. This biennial prize is awarded not just to the professionals responsible for the urban intervention, but also to the institutions which promoted it.

A total of 169 urban planning interventions were submitted to this third European Prize (as opposed to the 95 in 2002), carried out in 20 European countries: Spain (61), Germany (28), Italy (13), France (9), United Kingdom (8), Austria, Netherlands, Portugal (7), Poland (6), Switzerland (4), Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary (3), Denmark, Norway, Sweden (2), Slovenia, Croatia, Greece and Ireland (1).

The jury comprised Oriol Bohigas, architect, on behalf of the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), who acted as President; Dietmar Steiner, Director of the Architekturzentrum Wien (AzW); Aaron Betsky, Director of the Nederlands Architectuurinstituut (NAI), and Rowan Moore, Director of the Architecture Foundation (AF), who acted as jury members, and Elena Cánovas, architect and lecturer at the ESTAB, who acted as secretary.

Having studied and evaluated the 169 projects submitted to the Prize, the jury decided to award it jointly to the Remodelling of the Paseo del Óvalo, flight of steps and environs in Teruel (Aragon), by the architects David Chipperfield and Fermín Vásquez (temporary joint enterprise of David Chipperfield architects + b720 arquitectos), and to the landscaping restoration of the Vall d’en Joan controlled deposit in Begues (Catalonia), by the architects Enric Batlle, Joan Roig and Teresa Galí-Izard.

The Remodelling of the Paseo del Óvalo, the flight of steps and its environs in Teruel improves the functioning of an emblematic area of the town. The intervention, overcoming a topographic barrier, produces a more user-friendly route between the town centre and the train station, and successfully resolves a functional problem (the construction of lifts) in austere and monumental fashion. From the new public square at the foot of the town wall, the intervention stands in contrast to the existing baroque flight of steps, highlighting history, time and landscape.

The Landscaping restoration of the Vall d’en Joan controlled deposit in Begues reintegrates the site of the former waste dump for the Barcelona metropolitan area into the Garraf Nature Park, equipping it as a new leisure space. The intervention restores the landscape in accordance with the characteristics of the changed ecosystem, and incorporates sculptural elements that allude to the recent past of the site: walls of solid waste form the new terraces of the metropolitan park. An artificial/natural landscape invites visitors to contemplate their surroundings and reflect on the urban phenomenon.

At the same time, in view of the quality and volume of the entries submitted, the jury also named four honorary mentions:

Havnebadet, Copenhagen (Denmark) by Julien De Smedt/PLOT + Bjarke Ingels. A new open-air public swimming pool, well appointed and designed, transfigures the harsh port context, provides the town’s wharves with sports amenities and extends the existing parks to the waterfront.

Tilla-Durieux-Park in Berlin (Germany), by DS Landscape Architects, Van Stiphout, Maria Clementina, Crepon Crepon and Harma Horlings, is a new park in the heart of the city, reclaimed by undergrounding railway tracks. This is a simple, abstract intervention that produces a large green space in an intense, relaxed way.

Tenerife Verde (site 9), Buenavista del Norte (Tenerife) is the work of GPY Arquitectos (Juan Antonio González, Urbano Yanes, Félix Perera, Arquitectos). A constellation of small interventions in the urban centre of Buenavista del Norte recovers run-down urban spaces and creates new itineraries to link them. The architectural solutions, some imposing and others discreet, relate the surrounding natural landscape with the urban interior.

Stortorget, Kalmar (Sweden), by Caruso St. John Architect, recovers a former square and car park. The result is a deliberately empty space that invites its users to a subtle understanding of the geological and human history of the place. The variations in dimensions and the geometric arrangement of the pavements introduce memories of the countryside into the town, and the sound of running water beneath the stones gives the site an added sensuality.

JOINT WINNERS OF THE 2004 EUROPEAN PRIZE FOR URBAN PUBLIC SPACE

Remodelling of the Paseo del Óvalo, flight of steps and environs Teruel, Spain by David Chipperfield and Fermín Vázquez (temporary joint enterprise of David Chipperfield architects + b720 arquitectos) Promoted by the Diputación General de Aragón

Landscaping restoration of the Vall d’en Joan controlled deposit Begues, Spain by Enric Batlle, Joan Roig and Teresa Galí-Izard Promoted by the Diputació de Barcelona and the Entitat Metropolitana de Serveis Hidràulics of the Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona

Honorary mentions:

Havnebadet Copenhagen, Denmark by Julien De Smedt, PLOT + Bjarke Ingels Promoted by Copenhagen City + The Space & Facility Foundation for Sport

Tenerife Verde (site 9) Buenavista del Norte, Tenerife, Spain by GPY Arquitectos (Juan Antonio González, Urbano Yanes, Félix Perera, Arquitectos) Promoted by Cabildo Insular de Tenerife

Tilla-Durieux-Park Berlin, Germany by DS Landscape Architects, Van Stiphout, Maria Clementina, Crepon Crepon, Harma Horlings Promoted by Stadsdeel Mitte, Berlin

Stortorget Kalmar, Sweden by Caruso St. John Architect Promoted by Kalmar Kommun + Statens Konstrad Stockholm

The award ceremony will take place on Wednesday 7 July 2004 at the CCCB, at 12 midday, in the framework of ‘Urban traumas. The city and disasters’, three days of reflection on how cities anticipate the disasters to which they may be exposed and how they cope with them. Pressetext

3rd European Prize for Urban Public Space / Preisverleihung
07.07.2004 12:00

Preisträger:
David Chipperfield / Fermin Vasquez, Enric Batlle, Joan Roig, Teresa Gali-Izard