Europan 9 winners meet in Spain
UK Europan 9 winners and runners-up all attended the forum of winners, a three-day Europan event, organised by the city of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain, from 29-31 May.
The UK winners and runners-up were:
- RCKa
- Prewett Bizley
- Tom Russell Architects
- Loop Architecture
- Urban Salon
- Edge Zip
- Urban Village team.
The forum saw the best new thinking presented for each of the countries on how to create environments for healthy communities and provide the setting for contemporary urban life.
It also allowed the winning teams to talk about their scheme and compare them with their European counterparts. The 12 winning teams compared their responses to the same issues and shared ideas. Contributions were translated so that everyone could take part and benefit.
The themes from this year focused on how:
- we design homes and neighbourhoods
- public and private spaces in cities are evolving
- nature is being integrated into cities
- to define suitable boundaries to growth.
Previous winning Europan schemes were also showcased, prompting discussion on different procurement methods between the countries and the site sponsors of the Europan cities and towns.
After the debates, all of the teams visited the centre of Santiago, where they were able to forge new contacts with other teams in Europe facing similar issues.
A closing party for the winners in the Pazo de San Lorenzo proved to be the highlight of the forum, with all the participants enjoying beautiful surroundings in a cloister around a 400-year old topiary maze.
The UK winning teams have benefited hugely from the forum and returned to the UK with renewed enthusiasm for taking their designs forward.
