News b720 :: b720 Arquitectos ::

Monday, 25 of July of 2011 Santos Porta Fira Hotel, worldDBC##1s best skyscraper

The winner of the renowned Emporis Skyscraper Award 2010 is
Hotel Porta Fira in Barcelona. An expert committee annually presents this award to an exceptional building at least 100 meters tall completed within the award year. The critically acclaimed prize for global architecture is now in its 11th year.
The winner was chosen from over 300 competing skyscrapers around the world. Porta Fira, with its fascinating visual appearance, beat the world’s highest structure Burj Khalifa in Dubai, into second place. The jury valued the building’s aesthetics and integration into its urban environment over humankind’s fascination with building the tallest structure.

The winner Porta Fira contorts to a height of 113 meters, with 26 floors, on the outskirts of Barcelona in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat. The two architecture companies, Toyo Ito & Associates and b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos, conceptualised the surreal structure. “The biggest challenge of the skyscraper is its organic design. The façade of red aluminium tubes form continuous lines enclosing the complex geometry of the building, which twists and increases in size as it rises,” states architect Fermín Vázquez. Agbar Tower was awarded second best skyscraper in 2004.

Tuesday, 19 of July of 2011 b720 Arquitectos to plan new waterfront for Porto Alegre (Brazil)

The architectural practice b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos will now tackle the revitalisation of a 2.5-km stretch of waterfront in Porto Alegre (Brazil) in collaboration with Jaime Lerner Arquitetos Associados. The project is aimed at transforming the Cais Mauá dock area – a rundown, disused part of the city – into a business, culture and leisure centre for the 2014 World Cup. The project to revitalise the former dock area is expected to cost approximately E198 million.

The intervention, to be carried out in a 181,000-m2 area, will involve building a business park, a hotel, and a shopping centre designed to meet sustainability criteria. Disused warehouses in the dock area (built in 1920) will be transformed into dining and shopping spaces while maintaining the original appearance of the buildings. Respect for the cultural and historical significance of the buildings to be restored is a key aspect of the architectural project, which also stresses responsible use of natural resources.

The government of the state of Rio Grande do Sul has awarded a private concession for the execution and operation of the project to the Porto Cais Mauá do Brasil S.A. Consortium. The consortium is headed by the Spanish company Landside, which brings together the companies SPIM, GIS Trade Center, Proactiva, Iberosport and Contern. Under the concession agreement, the consortium will operate the new businesses for 25 years.

The transformation of Porto Alegre’s waterfront is aimed at re-establishing a direct, human relationship with the Guaíba River, restoring the area’s historical and cultural heritage, and creating a new icon for the Brazilian city.

This awarding consolidates b720’s internationalization strategy, which focuses on exporting values of innovation, sustainability and quality that have always identified b720's architectural practice.

Wendsday, 15 of June of 2011 TC Cuadernos releases a monograph about b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos

The editorial TC Cuadernos has published a monograph on the works constructed by the firm b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos between 1998 and 2011. The volume includes a selection of 28 projects and traces the path of b720 on its own and in collaboration with architects such as David Chipperfield, Jaime Lerner, Toyo Ito, and Jean Nouvel.

The work highlights some of the firm’s most emblematic buildings, such as the recently opened Grand Casino Costa Brava (Lloret de Mar), the Lleida-Alguaire Airport, and the Porta Fira Towers in L'Hospitalet of Llobregat. Furthermore, the monograph focuses on ongoing projects, among them the New Encants Market in Barcelona and the transformation of the waterfront of Porto Alegre (Brazil).

The monograph contains fragments of an introductory conversation between Jaime Lerner and Fermín Vázquez, in which they discuss their American-European experiences in the fields of architecture and urbanism. It also includes a dossier entitled "Environmental Impact Self-assessment on b720 Facades" in which it notes the balance of energy and materials used in construction by the firm aspiring to obtain a critical vision and a solid basis to focus future projects under the criteria of sustainability.

345 pages
Edition in Spanish, English, and Portuguese

More information: http://www.tccuadernos.com/

Saturday, 04 of June of 2011 The Lleida-Alguaire Airport and the Santos Porta Fira Hotel win the ASPRIMA-SIMA Real State Awards

The International Real State SIMA-Asprima Awards 2011 in the category of “Best Non-Residential Real Estate” has gone to the Lleida-Alguaire Airport, project promoted by the Catalan Governament and executed by b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos. Also, the hotel Santos Porta Fira - work of Toyo Ito AA and b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos- has been acknowledged with a Second Prize in the same category.

The jury of the eighth edition of these awards, summoned by the Association of Real Estate in Madrid and the editorial Planner Reed, acknowledged with this distinction real estate actions that stand out for its quality, adaptation and integration into the environment, as well as for incorporating innovative technical elements.

Monday, 09 of May of 2011 New Mercat dels Encants works begin

The new Barcelona Mercat dels Encants is under construction since early May with plans to run in a period of 18 months. The new market will be located in the Bosquet dels Encants, at the intersection of Meridian Avenue and Plaza de las Glorias. The project has a total area of about 33,306 m2 and is divided into three areas: the square-commercial space, the large deck and finally, two below ground level floors.

The proposal intends to avoid building multiple floors thus rejecting the model of a commercial centre. Instead of that, a continuous commercial area was designed, with slightly inclined planes intertwining and generating an endless loop which links stalls and small shops. The visitor’s experience is similar to a stroll through a pedestrian road. By bending the square deck, the different levels of the streets around the perimeter are reconciled; therefore the levels of the various entrances are blurred once inside the market.

The great casing suspended as a canopy almost 25 metres high is a prominent landmark and protects shopkeepers and users from the sunlight. The casing is arranged by variable-width bands. Its underside presents different inclinations and becomes a mechanism of reflection of the city into the market. The top finish of the roof is zinc-made while stainless steel pannels will be placed at the bottom.

The building has two underground levels. The first one is for the logistic needs of the market and the second one houses a public car park for the users.