Organized by the Ministry of Housing and Territorial Planning of Uruguay (MVOT) and MEVIR, with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank (BID), the International Architecture Competition "Wood: Innovating Social Interest Architecture" involved submitting proposals for new types of wooden housing extensions. These could be either paired or standalone single-level structures, to be built by MEVIR in a demonstration set of 20 social interest houses within the town of Tranqueras, Rivera Department, Uruguay.
As part of the Roadmap for Wooden Social Housing Construction in Uruguay presented by MVOT and BID, this competition is one of the ten initiatives aimed at enhancing, promoting, and elevating the use of domestic timber as a material for social interest architecture. It involves integrating technological innovation, design, energy efficiency, and sustainability elements. Situated in northern Uruguay, the town of Tranqueras is located in the northwest area of Rivera, 54 km away from the city of Rivera and 470 km away from Montevideo.
Developing various housing typologies with wooden structures, the winning project will be contracted by MEVIR to create detailed plans for architectural typologies featuring 1, 2, 3, and 4 bedrooms.
The jury composed of Marcia Croci (MVOT), Renata Coppetti and Pier Nogara (MEVIR), Juan José Ugarte (BID), Martin Garcia (Intendencia de Rivera), and Ana Maria Duran (Yale University, Studio A0) awarded three prizes and four honorary mentions without ranking. They highlighted the quality of the received proposals, as well as their innovative potential for social interest architecture in Uruguay and Latin America. Furthermore, the competition had the support of the technical advisory committee consisting of Carolina Pérez Gomar (MVOT), Ana Escalante and Ana Fernández (MEVIR), Bernardo Martin (Udelar), Laura Zubillaga (Alvar Aalto University), Andrés Sierra (Tallwood, Chile), and Julio Valbuena (Rivera). Below, we present all the awarded projects.
First Prize
- Authors: Danza-Cotignola-Staricco + IR arquitectura (Marcelo Danza, Andrés Cotignola, Marcelo Staricco, Luciano Intile, Enrico Cavagliá, Francisco Escapil, Lucila Pistolesi, Julia Cattani, Julian Calvetti)
Second Prize
- Authors: gualano + gualano: arquitectos (Marcelo Gualano, Martín Gualano, Lucía Blanco, Carolina González Aispuru, Francisco Lezama Ñandé, Sebastían Ugarte, Diego De Angelis)
Third Prize
- Authors: Martín Benavídez (Ben-Avid)
- Engineering: Hélio Olga Jr (ITA Constructora)
- Technical Representation: Liber Trindade (CECATEC), Rodrigo Rosas Fripp (Singular Housing Fray Bentos)
- Collaborators: Facundo Rasch, Stefanía Casarín, Emanuel Polito, Alan Ramírez, Gabriel Zabala, Pablo Blanco, Rebecca Rossi
Honorable Mentions
- Authors: Sebastian Cerri, Juan Ignacio Sánchez, Carolina Isasi, Richard Sirén, Antti Haikala, Marcos Geisenblosen
- Authors: Estudio de arquitectura – Carluccio Piana (Ana Inés Carluccio, Fernanda Piana), Empresa Frank Construcciones
- Project Team: Fernanda Piana, Ana Inés Carluccio, Agustina Aguirre, Santiago Merlo, Gonzalo Caprario, Carlos Pereira, Octavio Rocha
- Authors: TATÚ Arquitectura, BIG SUR, 14 Arquitectos, Impulso Arquitectos
- Authors: Wido Arquitectos (Victor Hugo Wido Martínez, Esau Piedra Valle, Paloma Aranda Carpintero, Ricardo Martínez Ortíz), Miguel Ángel Rojas Esquivel (RTB CONSTRUCCIONES DE OBRA CIVIL SA DE CV)
