AWARD. (International). OOIIO Architecture wins Merit Award in “Europan 14”.

OOIIO Architecture wins Special Mention in the “Europan 14”, the most important urban architecture competition for young architects at an international level. The project was presented as a comic, exploring new forms of architectural representation.

Among the entrepreneurs of tourism in Palma de Mallorca is known as “Arenal Effect”, to the negative effect for the brand “Mallorca” that causes the area of ​​El Arenal (Playa de Palma de Mallorca).
El Arenal is very popular internationally as a tourist destination of low quality, more interested in the combination of nightlife and beach than the culture or nature of the place.

The proposed site for the Europan 14 competition is one of the axes marked by the current General Plan for its pedestrianization and its enhancement, improving the connection of the beach with the neighborhood in which the people of El Arenal live permanently.
The town is currently a “tourist ghetto” known for its offer of sun + beach + party, attracting low quality tourism that shows no interest in local culture and is displacing the usual inhabitants.

How to get an urban reordering that ends with the “Arenal Effect”?

OOIIO Architecture proposes to solve all those problems a battery of urban interventions that act on the different problematic foci of the city, with the intention of regenerating El Arenal and transforming it from a conflictive destination of sun and beach tourism to an attractive place by its own cultural partner offer.

The jury of Europan 14 valued the work of OOIIO, granting to our team the Special Mention:

“The search for a way to communicate and explain the project in a different way is positively acknowledged, as a process from which a program and a final form will emerge. The main problems to be solved by the project are clearly explained and an open system based on the dialogue and participation of different agents is proposed giving, in a synthetic way and in a certain abstract way, proposals for solutions. The most important thing is the proposal of a process “.

Thank you very much and keep working!

Link to more information about this OOIIO Architecture Award Winner project.