The contest raised the participation of architecture offices from around the world with the requirement of having at least one Spanish partner (a requirement that for many Spanish architects was embarrassing). In a first phase, 31 teams were preselected, of which 5 teams went on to a second phase as finalists: OMA, MVRDV, West 8, Heatherwick Studio and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
With a proposal in many respects similar to the 2006 unsuccessful contest, the main idea of the project unfolds a landscaped area (baptized by the winners as a "great green meadow" or "urban carpet") in the center of the Azca superblock, trying to generate a kinder vision of tough urbanization processes such as Plaza del Callao and under which part of the infrastructures and program of uses are hidden.
This space will have a large central garden, with a large technological umbrella in the center, and fifteen microparks between the buildings, including native plant species, generating more accessible surfaces. "This project will turn the Azca area into a more connected, open and accessible space under the umbrella of sustainability, creating an urban ecosystem of great biodiversity", according to the statement provided by Renazca.
The competition has been managed by Martha Thorne and Edgar González, dean and professor at the IE School of Architecture and Design, and has had the advice of the architect Odile Decq and the pe of architecture and deputy director of La Vanguardia, Llàtzer Moix.
With a proposal in many respects similar to the 2006 unsuccessful contest, the main idea of the project unfolds a landscaped area (baptized by the winners as a "great green meadow" or "urban carpet") in the center of the Azca superblock, trying to generate a kinder vision of tough urbanization processes such as Plaza del Callao and under which part of the infrastructures and program of uses are hidden.
This space will have a large central garden, with a large technological umbrella in the center, and fifteen microparks between the buildings, including native plant species, generating more accessible surfaces. "This project will turn the Azca area into a more connected, open and accessible space under the umbrella of sustainability, creating an urban ecosystem of great biodiversity", according to the statement provided by Renazca.
The competition has been managed by Martha Thorne and Edgar González, dean and professor at the IE School of Architecture and Design, and has had the advice of the architect Odile Decq and the pe of architecture and deputy director of La Vanguardia, Llàtzer Moix.