Biblioteques de Barcelona

Awards. New recognition for the Sant Martí library. The award is shared with the Reggio School in Madrid.

The Biblioteca Gabriel García Márquez wins the 2023 FAD Architecture Award alongside the Reggio School in Madrid.

The FAD Architecture and Interior Design Awards are the longest-running and most widely recognised awards in Spain and Portugal in these disciplines, reaching their 65th edition this year. As ever, these annual awards recognise the best projects in the categories of Architecture, Interior Design, City and Landscape and Ephemeral Interventions.

The jury valued “the rich research process carried out in parallel to development of the project to reflect on the contemporary library. The spatial quality, obtained by articulating a constellation of situations and various sub-programmes, allows us to understand this public facility as a social condenser. The building uses different programming and spatial strategies to activate the neighbourhood and create a large entrance hall extending the square and the door to the central courtyard, next to the main staircase, connecting the different spaces and extending activities to occupy outside spaces on different levels and create specific openings towards different urban focal points”. In addition, “the complex construction solution involving the use of wooden elements with large dimensions that succeed in uniting the urban and human scales”.

The architects responsible for the building are Elena Orte and Guillermo Sevillano from the SUMA Arquitectura studio.

This award follows the 2023 Best Public Library Award, presented by the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) in August, the 2022 City of Barcelona Award for Architecture, the First Prize in the 51st edition of the Premios COAM the Madrid Architects’ Association awards and other accolades.

Opened on 28 May, 2022, the Gabriel García Márquez is the central library in the Sant Martí district. It is a magnificent six-floor building with an exposed wooden structure of almost 4,000 m². A local cultural facility for residents in a district noted for the tremendous vitality and activity of its civil society, comprising social, cultural and educational associations.