Young Basque Architecture showcases its proposals at the Mugak/ Biennial

2023 November 2

• A selection of the works of the finalist studios of the Peña Ganchegui Prize 2023 can be seen from today in the foyer of the Basque Architecture Institute in San Sebastian.
• Different panels show the work of this year's winners, the studio Ortega Diago from San Sebastian, as well as the rest of the selected candidates: Amaia Arana, Anarte, Eloi Landia, Equi Studio, Gurea and Mugara.
• This year's competition has been marked by an increase in the number of candidates and by a greater female presence, which has equalled the male presence.

From today, young Basque architecture has an exhibition at the Basque Architecture Institute in San Sebastian. The exhibition brings together the works of the candidates selected by the jury of the Peña Ganchegui Prize 2023, inaugurated as part of the fourth edition of the Basque Country International Architecture Biennial Mugak/.

The prize, organised every two years by the Peña Ganchegui Archive in collaboration with the Department of Territorial Planning, Housing and Transport of the Basque Government, seeks to give visibility to architecture professionals with less than 10 years' experience who, having been trained in the Basque Autonomous Community or exercising their activity there, contribute to promoting, developing and consolidating a quality architectural culture.

In each edition, the works of the teams recognised by the award are included in an exhibition that forms part of the Mugak/ 2023. "The promising young architects selected in this fourth edition of the award show a great plurality of approaches to face the challenges of contemporary architecture, such as climate and social sustainability, but maintain in common a taste for detail and careful execution, guaranteeing a future of quality for the architecture that is made in and from the Basque Country", said the director of Housing, Land and Architecture of the Basque Government, Pablo García Astrain, at this morning's inauguration.

In this fourth edition, the prize-giving ceremony took place on 20 October, in a gala designed and coordinated by the winners of 2021, Ocamica Tudanca Arquitectos, in front of professionals from the culture and architecture of the Basque Country. "The Peña Ganchegui Award seeks to promote Young Basque Architecture. In this sense, the Mugak/ 2023 is an unbeatable platform for publicising the candidates selected by the jury. Especially if the exhibition is installed, as in this case, in the foyer of the Basque Institute of Architecture, the central venue of the event. We thank the Biennial for including us in its programme and the Institute for welcoming us", said the director of the Peña Ganchegui Archive, Rocío Peña.

The exhibition

The exhibition is headed by the work of the San Sebastian studio Ortega Diago, formed by Gonzalo Sánchez Ortega and Armando Diago, winner of the Peña Ganchegui Prize 2023. The jury of the edition, integrated by María Langarita, Fernando Márquez Cecilia and Antonio Ortiz, valued their exercise in spatial synthesis, the delicacy in the treatment of materials, the singular programmatic solutions, the concern for fluidity in the circulations and the accent on transparencies shown in their work. The exhibition includes several works in which these values can be appreciated: interior design works, both home renovations and refurbishments of commercial and work spaces; and unfinished building projects, including several dwellings designed in the Hondarribia area.

Accompanying Ortega Diago in this exhibition are the teams that won a special mention: the architect Amaia Arana, the Gurea cooperative and the Mugara studio. Of the former, the "notable attention to environmental concerns and the exquisite care in the treatment of materials" is valued. Of the second, its "responsibility in taking on the challenges of the new energy and social paradigms". Of the third, their "particular way of looking at reality", highlighting the singularity and diversity of the solutions, as well as the risk taken in their proposals.

The show also illustrates the work of the rest of the selected candidates: Anarte, Eloi Landia and Equi Studio, in which the jury wished to recognise the value of their trajectory, their diversity of approaches and the interesting lines of work that they all tackle.

The prize

The Peña Ganchegui Prize carries a cash prize of 6,000 € and is named after the architect Luis Peña Ganchegui (Oñati 1926-Donostia 2009), the leading figure in Basque architecture in the second half of the twentieth century. In this fourth edition, 15 candidatures have been submitted, bringing together a total of 28 architecture professionals from five different schools (Donostia, Madrid, Barcelona, Pamplona and Seville), most of whose activity takes place in the Basque Country. Once again this year, the number of entries has increased with respect to the previous one, and for the first time the female representation in the candidatures has equalled the male representation.

"We are very grateful for the consideration that this magnificent jury has given us. This initiative promoted by both the Peña Ganchegui Archive and the Basque Government is fundamental for bringing young people together and making our work known", said Gonzalo Sánchez Ortega, of the Ortega Diago studio.

The jury

The jury of this fourth edition has included three prestigious professionals: the architect María Langarita (Zaragoza, 1979), professor at the School of Architecture of Madrid and co-founder of the Langarita-Navarro practice, winner of multiple prizes; the architect Fernando Márquez (Madrid, 1957), founding partner of the publishing house El Croquis, whose magazine of the same name, with over 200 issues published to date, is an international reference; and the architect Antonio Ortiz (Seville, 1947), honorary professor at the University of Seville, co-founder of the firm Cruz y Ortiz, whose work has been widely disseminated and awarded prizes. They were accompanied in the deliberation, with voice but without vote, by the director of the Peña Ganchegui Archive, Rocío Peña, and the director of Housing, Land and Architecture of the Basque Government, Pablo García Astrain.