
The international jury of the European Collective Housing Award announced today in San Sebastian the two winning developments of its inaugural edition: the conversion of a former wine warehouse in Basel, Switzerland, into housing, which was selected as ‘Best Collective Housing Development’ in the renovation category, and La Borda, a housing cooperative in Barcelona, as the winner in the new construction category.
The award is based on projects that have a positive impact on communities and contribute to sustainable urban development, while promoting quality architecture . The award, decided by an international jury, has taken the decision among the eighteen finalist nominations, taking as a starting point the importance of housing as a fundamental human need and social asset, as well as the promotion of innovation, inclusion and environmental responsibility in the design of collective housing.
As the award organizers explain, “collective housing is a cornerstone of Europe’s architectural heritage that exemplifies social cohesion, architectural innovation and urban sustainability. At a time when access to housing has definitely become an intersection of different economic, social and environmental issues, the time has come to proclaim public and collective housing, and in particular housing as a hallmark of European identity.”
You can consult the complete list of winners and candidates at the awards website.
La Borda, the tallest wooden house in the country
This is not the first award he has won. La Borda, the tallest wooden building in Spain an example of sustainable construction, already won the Spanish Architecture Award in 2021 and, with the current one, it has become a definitive reference for cooperative housing in the city.
As the awards explain, La Borda is a housing cooperative that is part of Barcelona’s social housing stock. The Lacol team and the La Borda cooperative prioritized making a building with the minimum environmental impact, both in its construction and in its useful life, while minimizing the risk of energy poverty for its inhabitants.
Completed in 2018, it is a wooden building with 28 dwellings plus common spaces, where corridors and circulations become spaces to stay, relax and socialize.According to Lacol, “La Borda’s community model, as opposed to more traditional public or private developments, has made it possible to overcome some important limitations imposed on collective housing architectural projects.
In the public sector, fear of the future user, totally unknown, prevents the introduction of changes that could affect the normalized way of life. In the case of private developers, market logics are imposed that impoverish housing . “Our model has five characteristics: self-promotion, right-to-use, community living, sustainability and affordability.”