The nine winning projects of the second edition of the ARQUITECTURA Awards, organized by the Superior Council of Colleges of Architects of Spain (CSCAE), have been announced. Showcasing fundamental values of architecture and urbanism—such as social responsibility, cultural preservation, and environmental sustainability—the awards received a total of 429 submissions. In the first stage, the Official Colleges of Architects and Regional Councils selected 177 proposals, which were narrowed down to just 21 finalists.

The Spanish Architecture Prize (Premio de Arquitectura Española) has been awarded biennially by the Higher Council of the Colleges of Architects of Spain (CSCAE) since 1993 to promote the quality of architectural works built across Spain.

The award has recognized built works by architects such as Enric Miralles, Mansilla y Tuñón, Sara de Giles, and Francisco Mangado Beloqui, among others, with projects including the Royal Collections Museum and the Palma Convention Center and Hotel. Explore all the winning projects below.

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Cristina Cabrera, director of the ICO Foundation, has presented the programming prepared by the institution for 2018, the year of its 25th anniversary. She outlined the program's main direction across the Foundation's three areas of activity: Art, Economy, and International.

In the field of Art, she presented the three temporary exhibitions at the Museo ICO focusing on architecture and the promotion of highly relevant but underrecognized figures in the discipline: Joaquín Vaquero Palacios, Carlos Cánovas, and Diébédo Francis Kéré.

Spanish architect Ángela García de Paredes, of the firm Paredes Pedrosa Arquitectos, has been shortlisted for the Women in Architecture 2018 award. Also nominated are Sandra Barclay of Barclay & Crousse (Peru), Biba Dow of Dow Jones (UK), and Stephanie Macdonald of 6a Architects (UK).

Created in partnership with The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal, the award aims to recognize and reward the work and designs of women architects worldwide, promoting role models who inspire other professionals.

Below are the projects for which these four architects are nominated for this prestigious award:

The Norman Foster Foundation is one of 21 institutions and individuals awarded Spain's 2018 Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts. Granted by the Spanish government through the Ministry of Culture and Sport, the distinction recognizes those globally who "have stood out in the field of artistic and cultural creation, or have rendered outstanding services in the promotion, development, or dissemination of art and culture, or in the conservation of artistic heritage."

Architect, painter, and sculptor Joaquín Vaquero Palacios (Oviedo, 1900–Madrid, 1998) was a total creator who approached the creative process holistically. The exhibition 'Joaquín Vaquero Palacios: The Beauty of the Colossal. Asturias, 1954-1980' at the Museo ICO focuses on the work he realized through a 30-year collaboration with Hidroeléctrica del Cantábrico, resulting in five Asturian power plants conceived as total works of art.

The Official Association of Architects of Madrid has awarded the 2018 COAM First Prize ‘ex aequo’ to the renovation of Sala Equis, designed by architects Lorenzo and Luis Gil (Plantea Estudio), to Espacio SOLO by Juan Herreros and Jens Richter, and to the book Oiza by Javier Vellés.

Regarding Sala Equis, the jury highlighted that the renovation of the former Duque de Alba cinema “equips the available space with contemporary uses, materials, and furniture, balanced with the memory of the existing structure,” and emphasized that it “encompasses the traditional movie theater alongside other activities surrounding this main function.”

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On February 15, the exhibition ‘Joaquín Vaquero Palacios. The Beauty of the Colossal. Asturias, 1954-1980’ opened at the Museo ICO in Madrid. Curated by Joaquín Vaquero Ibáñez and organized by the Fundación ICO, the exhibition is sponsored by the Fundación EDP.

Joaquín Vaquero Palacios (Oviedo, 1900—Madrid, 1998) was an architect, painter, and sculptor. He studied at the Madrid School of Architecture (1921-1927), where his professors introduced him to the architecture of the Modern Movement. There, he witnessed firsthand how industrial architecture served as a rich source of inspiration for architects like Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier, offering a promising arena for the application of rationalist principles and concepts.

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The role of heritage rehabilitation in the contemporary architectural landscape is shaped by a wide range of research, beliefs, memories, and efforts aimed at redefining and strengthening our built environment. When undertaking a transformation, renovation, or preservation project, architects can employ diverse strategies and tools to encourage a meaningful coexistence between what already exists and what is newly introduced. Together with three Madrid-based architecture practices—SOLAR, Pachón-Paredes, and BA-RRO—we set out to engage in conversation and explore their creative processes and ideals, recognizing the complexity and value of historic buildings as repositories of materials, structures, and construction techniques from other eras.

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Architecture is shaped not only by buildings, but by the ideas that make them possible. Before the constraints of capital, regulation, and procurement, there is a moment when architecture is allowed to think aloud. The first confrontation with this fertile moment usually takes place in academia, in the thesis. It is not merely a requirement for graduation, but a space of speculative freedom where architecture formulates hypotheses, builds arguments, and tests positions.

For many, it is also the first opportunity to think beyond the structure of academic programs — a first chance to explore something more personal, unresolved, or even unreasonable. While often seen as an endpoint, the thesis is better understood as a beginning: the first engagement with architecture as a form of reasoning, where the project is not yet a response, but a question.

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In an interview with Louisiana Channel, Rafael Moneo, the celebrated Spanish architect and 1996 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate, reflected on his career and philosophy. Born in Tudela, Navarra, Spain, in 1937, Moneo described how his early academic interests and professional experiences shaped his approach to architecture, resulting in a distinguished body of work that integrates historical, cultural, and environmental contexts.

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