The Félix Candela Award is a two-stage international architecture ideas competition conducted in Spanish. Organized annually by the Instituto Español de Arquitectura (IESARQ), it is open to students of architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, and design, as well as architects, landscape architects, urban planners, and designers up to 35 years of age, participating individually or in teams of two or three.
The competition calls for the design of a "Casa del Agave" (Agave House) located within the Mexican landscape, linked to the specific production system of one or more products derived from the plant (such as pulque, ixtle, tequila, or mezcal). Participants must define the site for their "Casa del Agave," ensuring the design allows visitors to understand the surrounding landscape and the processes of cultivating and harvesting the plant within its physical and human context—both today and throughout its history. Furthermore, the project should engage with the productive cultures surrounding the plant within its broader cultural context, framing the site of the agave as a cultural landscape.
