Ourense projects win Gran de Area awards

The Colexio Oficial de Arquitectos de Galicia has named 12 winners in the 2025 Premios Gran de Area, a set of awards covering the Vigo, Pontevedra and Ourense demarcations. The jury selected the projects from 57 admitted entries after three submissions were excluded from the 60 originally presented, according to the architects’ association. The awards recognize not only architects but also promoters, builders and other participants involved in the projects. In Ourense province, the winning works were spread across the provincial capital, Taboadela and Carballeda de Avia. ### Which Ourense projects were singled out? Ourense province accounted for four of the 12 winning projects, according to COAG’s published jury decision and regional coverage. Faro de Vigo reported that the recognized works in the province were located in Ourense city, Taboadela and Carballeda de Avia, while later local coverage said four prizes ultimately went to the province. (portal.coag.es) The best-documented Ourense winner was the restoration of the west facade of Ourense Cathedral, designed by María Sonia López Calvo and Manuel Seoane Feijóo. The cathedral’s own site said the project received a Gran de Area prize in December 2025, and Tectónica described it as a complex intervention on a protected monument. (farodevigo.es) Carballeda de Avia was represented by a reconstruction project for temporary public lodging in Muimenta, led by architect Pablo López Prol. The municipality’s website said the jury valued the intervention for going beyond simple replacement of the original structure while giving the building a contemporary character that remained respectful of the existing fabric. (catedralourense.com) Taboadela was also among the municipalities cited in the list of Ourense winners. Additional architecture coverage pointed to the Santiago de Rabeda rectory shed project in Taboadela and described its use of stone, tile, Galician pine, cork and straw bales in a rural setting, though the COAG search excerpts available publicly did not list the full project text in detail. (carballedadeavia.com) ### How were the winners chosen? The jury met in Vigo at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025, to assess the entries, according to COAG. The panel included Emma Noriega García for the Ourense delegation, Anselmo Villanueva Peón for Pontevedra and Sonia Alvarado Peitieiros for Vigo, along with other architects and a secretary without a vote. (farodevigo.es) COAG said the 57 admitted projects covered residential, public-use and public-space work, along with restoration, rehabilitation and interior design. The organization said the jury first held a preliminary vote and then debated the highest-rated works until reaching a final consensus on 12 winners. ### What do the awards cover beyond Ourense? (portal.coag.es) The 12 winning works were split evenly across the three demarcations, with four projects each for Vigo, Pontevedra and Ourense, Faro de Vigo reported. The broader list included projects in Vigo, Bueu, Sanxenxo, Moraña, Mondariz, Lalín and Oia, spanning housing, museum conservation, landscape interventions and health-related facilities. (portal.coag.es) The awards are framed by COAG as recognition of collaborative architectural work rather than a prize only for designers. The organization said the scheme is intended to acknowledge architects, promoters, quantity surveyors, builders and other contributors to quality projects developed in the three territories. ### Why do local materials and renovation feature so prominently? (farodevigo.es) Tectónica’s roundup of the winners said the selected projects included rehabilitation, rural architecture and interventions tied to landscape, and it highlighted the use of traditional materials in some of the Ourense-area work. In the Taboadela project, the publication cited stone, tile, Galician pine wood, cork and straw bales as part of the construction approach. (portal.coag.es) Faro de Vigo described the winning set more broadly as ranging from patrimonial recovery and residential rehabilitation to public spaces and architecture linked to place. That mix helps explain why several of the recognized Ourense works were renovations or reconstructions rather than entirely new buildings. (tectonica.archi) ### When are the prizes being handed over? COAG said the awards gala is scheduled for Saturday, May 23, 2026, at the new Auditorio de Marín in Praza de España. Faro de Vigo also reported on May 22 that the ceremony would be held there the following day. (portal.coag.es) (farodevigo.es)