Richard H. DriehausArchitecture Competition
Presentation
International competition aimed at promoting the practice of architecture and urban planning that preserve and sustain local traditions.
It rewards and promotes proposals that build upon local architectural traditions and their unique identity while contributing to the creation of a more beautiful, coherent, sustainable, and socially inclusive urban fabric. The competition encourages the use of local materials and techniques in designs, as well as predominantly traditional solutions that could generate more and better-quality employment opportunities for local construction workers.
The selected proposals can serve as models for architectural and urban designs that are more sensitive to these issues and more committed to the preservation of Spain’s cultural heritage. Since 2016, the Richard H. Driehaus Architecture Competition has promoted the practice of architecture and urban planning that both update and sustain local traditions while contributing to the creation of more beautiful, enduring urban structures that are better integrated into the existing architectural heritage.
It is organized by the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, INTBAU Spain, and the Spanish Council of Architects’ Associations (CSCAE).
The competition takes place in two successive phases.
In the first phase, Spanish municipalities are invited to submit potential topics and sites. An international jury then selects the three proposals that best align with the competition’s objectives and criteria.
In the second phase, which is international in scope, architects of any nationality are encouraged to submit architectural and urban design proposals for any of the three selected sites.
Finally, the competition selects and rewards proposals that can serve as models for better architectural, urban, and heritage preservation practices, particularly in deteriorated architectural ensembles and urban areas that are degraded and/or threatened by depopulation.
First Phase: Municipal Submissions
It is organized by the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation to identify potential themes and sites for the international phase.
Spanish municipalities interested in participating are encouraged to submit proposals for this purpose.
An international jury evaluates the submitted proposals and selects the three that best align with the established objectives and criteria.
Second Phase (Architects)
International Ideas Competition, open to architects and urban planners of any nationality, who may submit proposals for any of the three sites selected in the first phase.
Another international jury selects the best project for each of the three sites.
Jury Members
The competition consists of two distinct phases, each with its own jury.
Both juries are composed of a group of highly regarded professionals from various nationalities, recognized for their work in the preservation of traditional architecture and urban heritage. The juries include representatives from the different institutions collaborating in this initiative.
The jury for the first phase selects the three municipal proposals that best align with the competition’s objectives and criteria. The members of this first jury are: José Baganha, Elena Calama, Javier Cenicacelaya, Estefanía Fernández-Cid Fernández-Viña, Alba García Bernabé, Leopoldo Gil Cornet, Léon Krier, and Rafael Manzano Martos. Alejandro García Hermida presides over this jury but does not have voting rights, except in the event of a tie.
The jury for the second phase selects the best projects for each of the three locations chosen in the previous phase. Additionally, it may grant up to three honorable mentions for other outstanding proposals for each site. The members of this second jury are: José Baganha, Javier Cenicacelaya, Estefanía Fernández-Cid Fernández-Viña, Leopoldo Gil Cornet, Léon Krier, Rafael Manzano Martos, and María José del Toro Oliva. This jury also includes a representative from each of the municipalities corresponding to the three selected locations. However, only the representative from the relevant municipality participates in the decision-making process when selecting the winning project for their own location. Alejandro García Hermida presides over this jury but does not have voting rights, except in the event of a tie.
José Baganha
Graduated with a degree in Architecture from the School of Fine Arts in Porto and at the Universidade Técnica de Lisboa and is a Doctor in the Universidad del País Vasco. In 1991 he founded his own studio, working since then on residential, hotels, and commercial projects of facilities and urban. It is, in any case, in the continuation of the vernacular traditions of the Alentejo region in which the mastery of José Baganha has been deployed in the most prominent way. This is seen in the series of “Montes”. He has been a professor in the Faculty of Architecture of Viseu and Sintra in the Universidade Católica Portuguesa and guest lecturer at several European universities. He founded INTBAU Portugal, co-founded the Council for European Urbanism and is a member of the board of the College of Architectural Heritage of the Ordem dos Arquitectos. In addition to the Rafael Manzano 2017 Prize, the aforementioned qualities of his work have earned him other international awards such as the Prix Européen pour la Reconstruction de la Ville 2011, awarded by the Philippe Rotthier Foundation.
Elena Calama Martín
She holds a degree in Architecture from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, specializing in Preservation and Restoration of Architectural Heritage. She has worked in architectural firms, where she developed competition entries and project designs. Since 2016, she has been a civil servant in the Corps of Architects of the Spanish Treasury. She currently serves at the Ministry of Transport, Mobility, and Urban Agenda (MITMA) as Head of the Architecture Promotion and Dissemination Area within the General Subdirectorate for Architecture and Building. Her department focuses on promoting, fostering, and researching architecture, collaborating with professional associations, institutions, foundations, and both public and private organizations at national and international levels. It also coordinates the organization of the National Architecture Award and the Spanish, Ibero-American, and Venice Architecture and Urbanism Biennials.
Within MITMA, she has also worked in the Architectural Heritage Rehabilitation Area, overseeing the progress of restoration projects.
Javier Cenicacelaya
He holds a degree in Architecture from the University of Navarra and is a Professor of Architectural Composition at the University of the Basque Country. Additionally, he obtained a Master of Arts (M.A.) from Oxford University and a PhD from the University of Navarra. He was a Juan March Foundation Fellow and has served as a Visiting Critic at several architecture schools in the United States and Europe, as well as a Visiting Scholar at the John P. Getty Foundation in Los Angeles. He was also Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Miami and Director of the international architecture journal Composición Arquitectónica, Art & Architecture. As a practicing architect, he collaborates with Iñigo Saloña, with whom he has designed and built various buildings, primarily in northern Spain, but also in Brussels, Miami, and Berlin. Their work has been recognized with several awards, including the European Prize for the Reconstruction of the City (Fondation Rotthier) on two occasions, the Manzano Martos Prize for Classical Architecture and Monument Restoration (2014), and multiple awards from the Basque-Navarrese Architects’ Association and the Bizkaia Architects’ Association. His projects have been exhibited in various venues, including the Venice Biennale, and he has also curated several architecture exhibitions. Javier Cenicacelaya is the author of eleven books and over forty book chapters.
She holds a degree in Architecture with a specialization in Conservation and Restoration of Architectural Heritage and a Master’s in Preservation and Restoration of Architectural Heritage from the School of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (ETSAM-UPM). She is a PhD candidate in the Architectural Heritage program at ETSAM-UPM, under the supervision of Javier G. Mosteiro, and is set to defend her dissertation, “The Architecture of Cider in Asturias: The Persistence of Its Heritage Values”, in early 2022. She is a co-founder of the Madrid-based architectural firm espinosfernandezcid, which specializes in Cultural Heritage. Alongside her team, she has been awarded in the first three editions of the Richard H. Driehaus Architecture Competition, receiving a First Mention for the project in Grajal de Campos (2017) and First Prizes for proposals in Baza (2018) and Olite (2019). The project for the Plaza del Fosal of the Church of San Pedro in Olite will be executed with funding from the 1.5% Cultural Program granted by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility, and Urban Agenda.
Alba García Bernabé
She holds a degree in Architecture from the School of Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (ETSAV-UPV), with a specialization in Intervention in Architectural Heritage, and a Master’s in Preservation and Restoration of Architectural Heritage from the School of Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (ETSAM-UPM). She has worked as a restoration architect for institutions such as the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage of the Community of Madrid and National Heritage (Patrimonio Nacional).
Currently, she serves as an architect within the Public Administration, working in the Area of Interventions in Cultural Heritage Buildings at the Spanish Cultural Heritage Institute (IPCE), under the General Directorate of Fine Arts at the Ministry of Culture and Sports. She is also a member of the Commission for the National Plan for Defensive Architecture and the Working Group on Historic Gardens, which operates within the framework of the National Cultural Landscape Plan.
Alejandro García Hermida
PhD in Architecture and MA in Conservation and Restoration of Architectural Heritage from the Madrid Polytechnic University School of Architecture, where he has been Associate Professor since 2019.
He has been Associate Professor at the Alfonso X el Sabio University (2009-19), Visiting Scholar at the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture (US, 2016) and guest lecturer at universities such as Yale, Miami, Colorado, Liverpool or Politecnico di Milano, among others. His professional practice has been devoted to traditional architecture and building and the restoration and study of historic buildings, largely in Spain and Morocco, along with the creation and management since 2012, thanks to Richard H. Driehaus, of the initiatives run today by this Foundation. He is also the Strategic Advisor of Kalam Corporation in the USA, a board member of the NGO Terrachidia and cofounding Vice-Chair of INTBAU Spain. Recognitions of this work include the 2015 INTBAU Excellence Award, the 2019 Hispania Nostra Award, a Special Mention in the 2019 EU-Europa Nostra Awards, the 2021 Philippe Rotthier European Architecture Prize, and the 2021 National Craft Award.
Leopoldo Gil Cornet
He holds a degree in Architecture from the School of Architecture at the University of Navarra. He has been Architect of the Historical Heritage Service of the General Directorate of Culture-Príncipe de Viana Institution of the Government of Navarra since 1986. He is a teacher at the School of Architecture of the University of Navarra and has been the Coordinator of the Specialization in Rehabilitation and Restoration of Architecture at the same institution since 2000. He is a member of the Academia del Partal and the Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi. As an architect for the Príncipe de Viana Institution, he was awarded the National Prize for the Restoration and Preservation of Cultural Heritage in 1998 and has designed and overseen numerous conservation and restoration projects for various monuments in Navarra, including the medieval tower of the Señorío de Ayanz (1998-2000), which received the Silver Medal of the Spanish Association of Friends of Castles (2000); the Frente de Francia section of the Pamplona city walls (2000-2009), which was granted the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage – Europa Nostra Award (2012) in the Conservation category; and the Royal Collegiate Church of Roncesvalles (1982-2012). He was awarded the Rafael Manzano Martos Prize in 2012.
Léon Krier
Works as an architect, urbanist and design consultant. He studied at the University of Stuttgart before becoming an assistant to James Stirling in London and Project Partner with J. P. Kleihues in Berlin, and later developing his own private architectural practice in London 1974-97, Claviers 1998-2002 and Luxembourg since 2003. Krier has lectured at the Architectural Association School of Architecture (1973-76), the RCA (1977) and Princeton University (1977); he has been the Jefferson Professor of Architecture at the University of Virginia (1982) and Visiting Professor at Yale University School of Architecture intermittently from 1990, he was Inaugural Robert A. M. Stern visiting professor in 2015. His numerous and renowned projects include new town of Poundbury Masterplan and architectural coordination for the Duchy of Cornwall and HRH The Prince of Wales (1988 onwards); Justice Palace of Luxembourg (1990-97); Città Nuova in Alessandria, Italy (1995-99); Heulebrug in Knokke-Heist, Vlaanderen, Belgium (1998 onwards); Cayalá in Guatemala City (2003 onwards). He has participated as an advisor in the Master Plan for Seaside, Fort Walton Beach, Florida since 1981 and is regarded as the “godfather” of New Urbanism. His work has been exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and in the American Architectural Foundation Octagon Museum (Washington, DC). He was awarded the British honour of Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, C.V.O., Silver Medal of the Académie Française in 1997, the Athena Award of the Congress of New Urbanism in 2006 and he was the inaugural recipient of the Driehaus Prize in 2003. His publications include Rational Architecture Rationelle (1978), Albert Speer: Architecture 1932-42 (1985, republished in 2013), The Completion of Washington DC (1986), Atlantis (1987), The Architecture of Community (2009, published in Spanish in 2013), and Drawing for Architecture (2009).
Rafael Manzano Martos
He holds a degree in Architecture and a PhD from the Polytechnic University of Madrid. He has restored numerous monuments in Spain and has designed new buildings both in Spain and abroad. He has been Professor at the School of Architecture of the University of Seville since 1966, where he was also Dean from 1974 to 1978. He has also lectured at many national and international universities. Among his multiple works, he was headed to the preservation of the Reales Alcázares of Seville from 1970 to 1991, chaired the works commission of the Real Patronato of the Alhambra and the Generalife from 1971 to 1981 (Shiller Prize for Restoration of Monuments in 1980), and headed up the preservation of the ancient Caliphal city of Medina Azahara from 1975 to 1985. He has published diverse texts on Medieval and Islamic architecture. He is a member of many national and international institutions, such as Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando; the Royal Academies of History and Fine Arts of Granada, Córdoba, Cádiz, Málaga, Écija, Toledo and La Coruña; and the Real Academia Sevillana de Buenas Letras. He has been awarded the Medal of Fine Arts, the Richard H. Driehaus Prize in 2010, and is also a Commander with Plaque of the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise.
David Rivera
He is an architectural historian and a Teacher of History of Architecture and Urbanism at the School of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (ETSAM-UPM), where he also obtained his PhD. His research and publications focus on 20th-century architectural heritage and the use of cinematic imagery as a tool for architectural analysis. He is the author of the books Dios está en los detalles. La restauración de la arquitectura del Movimiento Moderno and La otra arquitectura moderna. Expresionistas, metafísicos y clasicistas. He also serves as the editor-in-chief of the architectural and film journal Teatro Marittimo.
María José del Toro Oliva
She holds a degree in Architecture from the School of Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (ETSAM-UPM) since 1986 and a Master’s in Preservation and Restoration of Architectural and Urban Heritage: Theory and Construction from the same university since 2006. A civil service architect since 1988, she joined the Spanish Cultural Heritage Institute (IPCE, formerly IPHE) in 2006, under the General Directorate of Fine Arts at the Ministry of Culture and Sports. She is a member of the Technical Commission of the Alhambra in Granada, the coordinator of the National Plan for Abbeys, Monasteries, and Convents, and the conservator of the headquarters of the Spanish Cultural Heritage Institute. Additionally, he frequently serves as a jury member in competitions related to architectural restoration. She carries out restoration projects both as part of his official duties at the IPCE and privately through his personal practice.
Olga Roldán Laguarta
Graduated with a degree in Architecture from the Universidad de Navarra and holds a Master in Conservation and Restoration of Architectural Heritage from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Since 2014 she works in the Public Sector as Head of the Architecture Department of the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Spain (IPCE), coordinating the projects and works in historical heritage assets throughout the entire Spanish territory: Technical Reports, Studies, Master Plans, Projects and Construction Management, among other tasks. She has previously held, for ten years, various positions in the Government of the Autonomous Region of Aragon, always linked to the conservation and restoration of architectural heritage.
Beatriz del Río Calleja
Jury Member representing Baltanás
PhD in Architecture with a dissertation on The Systemic Approach to the Construction Process, and Associate Professor at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM). She teaches at the School of Architecture of the UPM, where she has specialized in the fields of Construction and Architectural Technology across various undergraduate and master’s programs. In parallel, she works as a senior architectural consultant, with extensive experience in project design and development, as well as in construction management for leading engineering and architecture firms. She currently serves as Project Director and Constructability Manager. She has taken part in numerous competitions and in the drafting of preliminary and executive projects at renowned architecture studios in Milan and Madrid, in addition to designing and overseeing restoration and rehabilitation works. She currently combines her professional practice with teaching and research activities.
Sara Dorregaray Oyaregui
Jury Member representing Irurita
Architect from the University of Navarra, where she also completed the Master’s Degree in Architecture with IESE distinction (2014–2020). She is currently completing her PhD in Architecture. She has taken part in various restoration and rehabilitation projects, including work on the Cathedral of Pamplona and several hermitages in Navarra (with the firm Cherrez y Cantera), as well as the restoration of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela (with Arrokabe studio). Throughout her professional career, she has combined architectural practice with academic research, leading to the development of her doctoral thesis. In parallel, she served for four years as Deputy Secretary of the Irurita Town Council, where she was actively involved in the promotion and preservation of the town’s heritage.
Rubén Esteve Latorre
Jury Member representing La Fresneda
He holds a degree in Building Engineering (Arquitectura Técnica) from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and has built a distinguished career in the fields of architectural rehabilitation, historic heritage conservation, and building energy efficiency. Since 2005, he has worked independently, collaborating with architecture studios, construction companies, and public administrations on both new-build and rehabilitation projects. He has taken part in the restoration of heritage landmarks such as the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Grace (Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Gracia) in La Fresneda, the Church of Saint John the Beheaded (Iglesia de San Juan Degollado) in Valjunquera, and the Church of the Assumption (Iglesia de la Asunción) in Valmadrid. His training includes specialization in urban planning for small municipalities and in traditional rural architecture. He is a member of the Passivhaus Building Platform and has served as regional delegate in Aragón, where he has actively promoted sustainable construction strategies. Since 2019, he has also been a member of the La Fresneda Town Council, where he has worked on cultural and heritage initiatives, including the drafting of the Catalogue of Archaeological Assets on Non-Developable Land and a historical research project on the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Grace and the former Convent of the Order of Minims.
Involved Entities
The Richard H. Driehaus Building Arts Awards are organized annually by the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation, thanks to Richard H. Driehaus and the collaboration of INTBAU Spain, the Ministry of Culture and the Spanish High Council of Institutes of Architects.
Organized, thanks to Richard H. Driehaus, by:
The Traditional Building Cultures Foundation seeks to foster and promote the study, protection, teaching, dissemination and preservation of the traditional building, architecture and urbanism characteristic of the various regions of the world.
With the support of:
The Ministry of Culture and Sports, through its Directorate General of Cultural Heritage and Fine Arts, manages the measures that must be generally adopted for the protection and defense of historical heritage, the administration of the State’s competencies in intangible cultural heritage, the identification, documentation, support, and safeguarding of traditional arts and crafts, and the development and implementation of plans for the preservation and restoration of historical heritage buildings. Additionally, it coordinates with other public administrations and public or private entities to develop and monitor these plans.
With the collaboration of:
INTBAU Spain develops its initiatives to promote traditional building, architecture and urbanism and serves as a platform for collaboration and exchange of information, contributing to the promotion of other related initiatives organized by its members and other institutions linked to the network itself.
The Spanish Council of Architects’ Associations (CSCAE) is the body that brings together all regional Architects’ Associations to pursue common general interests. It also serves as the representative body for these associations and the architecture profession before public and private institutions, as well as international organizations.