The 85 social housing units in Cornellà by Peris+Toral arquitectes, Construmat 2024 Award to Sustainibility

The project of 85 social dwellings in Cornellà de Llobregat (Barcelona) built from wood by the Peris+Toral arquitectes practice has won the Construmat 2024 Prize, which at this edition sought to recognise the best works erected according to sustainability criteria. The Collegium Accademicum student residence in Heilderberg (Germany) has won the Construmat Prize of the public.

The winning project, built on the site formerly occupied by the emblematic Pisa cinema in Cornellà de Llobregat, is a five-storey building with a wooden structure, which rests on a ground floor with a reinforced concrete structure. The 85 dwellings are organised around a communal courtyard that acts as a small square for the neighbours and from which the different spaces and floors are accessed.

The winning project is distinguished by its modular approach and prefabricated wooden construction for a type of affordable, quality housing under a concept of communal and ecologically sustainable coexistence. The jury particularly valued the commitment of the Peris+Toral arquitectes practice to incorporate a typological innovation in social housing with affordable rents at competitive market prices within a sustainable modular structure.

The building was commissioned by the Metropolitan Institute for Land Development and Asset Management (IMPSOL) of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, and executed by the company Vías y Construcciones, optimising to the maximum the laminated wood used, from EGOIN Wood Group, in order to achieve its economic viability.

The jury also awarded two mentions. The first went to the Las Tejedoras community production centre in Guayaquil (Ecuador) by the Spanish architect Juan Carlos Bamba and the Ecuadorian practice Natura Futura, while the second went to Le Magasin Eléctrique in Arles (France), a collaborative work by the practices Assemble, BC Architects & Studies and Atelier LUMA.

The jury that selected the winning works was formed by the director of the Paris School of Architecture (ESA-Paris), Marie-Hélène Contal; the architect of the bplus.xyz practice and professor at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Olaf Grawert; and the founder of SUMO arquitectes and professor at the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Barcelona (ETSAB-UPC), Jordi Pagès.

The Construmat Public Prize went to the Collegium Accademicum student residence in Heidelberg (Germany). The project by the DGJ Architektur studio is a timber construction without metal connections, as well as a modular and flexible system for the living units, just like the Jury Prize.

The Construmat 2024 Awards have had as nominees a total of 17 buildings completed and in operation between 2019 and 2023, have been selected by an expert committee and have been designed by architectural practices committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to implement the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations.

The Construmat Awards ceremony, curated by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, will take place on 22 May as part of the activities of the show, which is being held from 21 to 23 May. The event will also feature the presentation of the winning works and two round tables with the participation of the architecture practices, the jury and the expert committee.