Dezeen Magazine

Tile of Spain Awards 2015 call for entries

Dezeen promotion: entries are now being accepted for this year's Tile of Spain Awards – the annual competition run by the Spanish Ceramic Tile Manufacturer's Association (+ slideshow).

Tile of Spain Awards promotion
Restoration of the Administration Hall at the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site by Joan Nogué. Photo by Marcela Grassi and Robert Ramos.

Now in its 14th year, the awards programme is open to international architecture and interior design studios that have used ceramics made by Spanish companies in their projects.

Tile of Spain Awards promotion
Restoration of the Administration Hall at the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site by Joan Nogué. Photo by Marcela Grassi and Robert Ramos.

A prize of €39,000 (£27,439) will be divided between the winning projects in three categories: architecture, interior design and student degree projects.

Tile of Spain Awards promotion
Restoration of the Administration Hall at the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site by Joan Nogué. Photo by Marcela Grassi and Robert Ramos.

Architect Víctor López Cotelo, winner of the 2015 Spanish Award for Architecture, will lead this year's jury, which also includes Italian architect Laura Andreini of Archea Associatti studio and former Bartlett School of Architecture director Marcos Cruz.

Tile of Spain Awards promotion
2014 Interior Design Winner – Restoration of the cloister at Betxí Castle by El Fabricante de Espheras. Photo by Milena Villalba.lalba

A Lisbon townhouse with a green-tiled facade by Camarim Arquitectos was awarded last year's architecture prize, while the restoration of the cloister at Betxí Castle by El Fabricante de Espheras studio topped the interiors category in 2014.

Tile of Spain Awards promotion
2014 Interior Design Winner – Restoration of the cloister at Betxí Castle by El Fabricante de Espheras. Photo by Milena Villalba.lalba

Entry to this year's awards is free and submissions are being accepted until 28 October 2015.

For further information and to download the application forms to enter, visit the Tile of Spain Awards website.

Read on for more information from the organisers:


The Spanish Ceramic Tile Manufacturers' Association (ASCER) announces the fourteenth edition of the prestigious competition celebrating the creative use of Spanish ceramics in interior design and architecture projects around the globe. The award-winning Spanish architect Victor Lopez Cotelo will chair the jury this year. Entry is free and the prize fund totals 39,000 Euros

Tile of Spain Awards promotion
Casa Andamio by bosch.capdeferro arquitectures. Photo by José Hevia

The fourteenth annual Tile of Spain Awards is now open, welcoming project submissions from international architects, interior designers and architecture students. Projects can be located anywhere in the world, but must make significant use of Spanish ceramics in the formal part of the building and must have been completed between January 2013 and October 2015. The application deadline is 28th October 2015.

Tile of Spain Awards promotion
Casa Andamio by bosch.capdeferro arquitectures. Photo by José Hevia

The 2015 Tile of Spain Awards offer a prize fund of €39,000 divided into three categories: Architecture (€17,000), Interior Design (€17,000) and Student Degree Project (€5,000). The jury may also give special mentions in each category.

Tile of Spain Awards promotion
El Enroque House by Ángel Luis Rocamora. Photo by M.A. Cabrera.

The jury chairman this year is architect Víctor López Cotelo, winner of the 2015 Spanish Award for Architecture. The jury also includes Italian architect Laura Andreini of Archea Associatti studio; Marcos Cruz - architect and former director at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL; architect, lecturer and popular blogger Édgar González of edgargonzalez.com; award-winning hospitality designer Isabel López Vilalta; and Castellon-based architect Ramón Monfort.

Tile of Spain Awards promotion
El Enroque House by Ángel Luis Rocamora. Photo by M.A. Cabrera.

Víctor López Cotelo graduated from the Madrid School of Architecture in 1969 and worked for Alejandro de la Sota, before founding his own award-wining practice in Madrid in 1979. He recently received the 2015 Spanish Architecture Award for the rehabilitation of a former military hospital, transforming it into the new home of the Granada School of Architecture.

Tile of Spain Awards promotion
2014 Architecture Winner – House in Príncipe Real by Camarim Arquitectos. Photo by Nelson Garrido

Industry distinctions also include the 1996 COAM Design Prize for his work on the grounds of the El Escorial Monastery; 4th Enor Grand Prize for the Iberian Peninsula, 11th Saloni Award for his project for a single family home in the complex of the former Ribera de San Lorenzo Tannery in Santiago de Compostela; García Mercadal Award; Madrid Autonomous Community's Churriguera Award for Urban Planning; and 2003 Manuel de la Dehesa Award at the 7th Edition of the Spanish Architecture Biennial. His work has been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennial and he has been shortlisted for the 1990 Mies van der Rohe Award for Zaragoza's Public Library.

Tile of Spain Awards promotion
2014 Architecture Winner – House in Príncipe Real by Camarim Arquitectos. Photo by Nelson Garrido

In recent years the competition has awarded a wide range of projects, recognising the versatility of Spanish ceramics.

Last year the Architecture prize went to the Portuguese studio Camarim for the rehabilitation of a five-story house in Lisbon. The project was praised by the judges for "the brilliant interpretation in the use of ceramic tiles in Lisbon's historic quarter and the new textured take on the traditional ceramic tile facade".

The judges also gave special mention to Casa El Enroque by Ángel Luis Rocamora for the "sensitive use of traditional ceramic tiles on the façades, combined with the apertures that open up strategically as part of the restoration and extension of the existing building".

Tile of Spain Awards promotion
2014 Architecture Winner – House in Príncipe Real by Camarim Arquitectos. Photo by Nelson Garrido

Another Special Mention for Architecture went to Casa Andamio by bosch.capdeferro for "the use of glazed ceramic tiles in various construction elements as a means of catalysing specific plays of light within the transition spaces between the interiors and exteriors".

First prize in the 2014 Interior Design category went to the Restoration of the Cloister at Betxí Castle by El Fabricante de Espheras studio. The judges remarked on "the conceptual transformation" of the cloister by including a traditional terracotta wall and a large mirrored surface that virtually extends the space.

Tile of Spain Awards promotion
Bodebo Store by CAVAA. Photo by Jordi Surroca

The panel also gave two special mentions in the Interior Design category: Bodebo Store by CAVAA was honoured for the "refreshing no-fuss intervention of the renewed interior, as well as the straightforward efficiency in the use of the various ceramic tiles".

The judges also praised the magnificent restoration work undertaken on the administrative hall of the Sant Pau Art Nouveau church by Joan Nogué Arbussa, highlighting "its vocation to restore it to its original state, incorporating original ceramic tiles whilst also introducing a contemporary take on those sections for which there was no objective information".

Tile of Spain Awards promotion
Bodebo Store by CAVAA. Photo by Jordi Surroca

Closing date for entries 28 October 2015, application is free.

Further information and application forms visit www.tileofspainawards.com or contact [email protected].

www.tileofspainawards.com