Barcelona and its surroundings have been one of the main protagonists of the 2026 Architecture Awards, organized by the Superior Council of Colleges of Architects of Spain (CSCAE). Three Catalan works have received the main special distinctions of this edition: the Spanish Architecture Award, the Spanish Urban Planning Award, and the Permanence Award.
The Spanish Urban Planning Award has gone to the Special Urban Planning and Urban Improvement Plan for the residential fabric of Fira de Barcelona and the former Modelo prison, developed by the Urban Planning Management of the Barcelona City Council and Barcelona Regional. The Permanence Award has recognized the restoration of the Santa Caterina market, a work by Miralles Tagliabue – EMBT, twenty years after its completion. And the Spanish Architecture Award has been for Can Saltiri, the recovery of access to Rupit castle, in the province of Barcelona, a work by Carles Enrich Studio.
The gala was held at the Teatro Alcázar in Madrid, with more than 500 attendees and the presence of the authors of the 25 finalist proposals. In total, nine awards were presented: three special distinctions and six value awards. The Gold Medal for Architecture was also awarded to the architect from San Sebastián, José Ignacio Linazasoro, and the Lluís Comerón Graupera Architect Award to the human team of the collegiate institutions.
The recognition of the area of Fira de Barcelona and the former Modelo prison awards one of the most relevant urban planning operations currently underway in the city. The project proposes transforming a part of the existing fairground fabric, currently underutilized, into a new space with housing, facilities, and green areas designed to respond to Barcelona's current needs.
The action seeks to improve the connection between neighborhoods and reinforce urban continuity in a strategic area between Eixample and Sants-Montjuïc. In addition, it incorporates criteria of sustainability, health, and equity, prioritizing active mobility, social cohesion, and public land management. The jury has valued the proposal as an example of people-centered urban regeneration, capable of creating a new centrality based on proximity to facilities, access to housing, diversity of uses, and social mix.
The Permanence Award has gone to the restoration of the Santa Caterina market, one of Barcelona's most recognizable architectural interventions. The award distinguishes those works that, after twenty years, have demonstrated their ability to adapt to the passage of time and remain useful for the city.
The rehabilitation of the market, developed between 1997 and 2005 by Miralles Tagliabue – EMBT, allowed for the recovery of a historic space in Ciutat Vella through a program that combines market, housing, public space, and parking. The project also incorporated the remains of the old convent into an archaeological route under the square and improved the connection between Francesc Cambó Avenue and the surrounding street network.
Its characteristic undulating roof, formed by a ceramic mosaic of 325,000 hexagons and 67 colors, has become one of Barcelona's contemporary icons. The jury specifically highlighted the intervention's ability to keep the market alive as an everyday space fully integrated into the life of the neighborhood, defining it as "architecture without an expiration date."
The third special distinction linked to Catalonia has been the Spanish Architecture Award, granted to Can Saltiri. Recovery of access to Rupit castle, by Carles Enrich Studio. The intervention improves access to the castle from the urban core and conditions the routes between the existing remains, ensuring safety and highlighting the site's archaeological and landscape heritage. The project incorporates light walkways and stairs that adapt to the topography and allow exploration of the surroundings without altering their character.
The jury valued its ability to integrate heritage, landscape, and contemporary technique through a contained, precise, and reversible intervention. An action that allows discovering the place from new perspectives without competing with its historical memory.
Architecture in the face of climate crisis and housing
This year's edition has focused on the role of architecture in addressing challenges such as the climate crisis, the need for affordable housing, social cohesion, and the preservation of heritage and landscape. The Secretary General for Urban Agenda, Housing and Architecture of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda, Iñaqui Carnicero, claimed during the gala that architecture is a good of general interest. "A society that takes care of its spaces is, in essence, taking care of the people who inhabit them," he said.
The president of the CSCAE, Marta Vall-llossera, also defended the importance of architecture in responding to the housing crisis. "We need to increase the supply of affordable housing, rehabilitate our built stock, regenerate neighborhoods, and respond to a growing social demand. Architecture is an essential part of this solution," she stated.
The winning projects were chosen by a jury made up of architects and institutional representatives from among the 25 finalist proposals, previously selected from 534 candidacies, 17% more than in the previous edition. In addition to the three special distinctions, the value awards recognized the Viciana residential building in Valencia; the Strategic Plan for the Regeneration of Playa de Palma; the interventions in the Royal Monastery of Santa María de Sixena; El Croquis magazine; the Tibi Services and Pool Pavilion, and a house in Colònia de Sant Pere, in Mallorca.
With three of the main distinctions of the edition, Catalonia once again stands out in the Spanish architectural landscape. The awarded projects show three different ways of understanding architecture: transforming the city, preserving heritage, and improving the relationship between people and their environment.