European Prize for Urban Public Space names five finalists
The European Prize for Urban Public Space has announced a shortlist of five projects in Spain, Belgium, Portugal and Italy that rethink areas previously intended for cars. The initiatives transform transport infrastructure into green areas and public spaces that help cities adapt to heat and heavy rainfall, Taipei Times reports.
A bathhouse on a roundabout
Among the finalists is Round About Baths, a project by Swiss architect Leopold Banchini in Logroño, northern Spain. The architect’s team created a temporary public space on a concrete island in the middle of one of the city’s main thoroughfares, where a fountain basin had been damaged.
A wooden structure inspired by 19th-century public baths turned the fountain pool into a shallow bathing area. Cast-iron flower planters were used as fire bowls to heat the steam room. The installation was set up for only one week during the Concentrico architecture festival in June last year. Banchini noted that a permanent installation would have required consideration of safety requirements, and the bathing area could only be reached via a pedestrian crossing from one side.
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Green spaces instead of parking lots
Another Spanish finalist is Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes in Barcelona. There, three main roads that previously directed traffic to the Glòries interchange were partly routed underground, freeing up space for an open green area.
In Antwerp, Belgium, Zuidpark was included on the list. It was created on the site of a former free car park in the southern Zuid district. The 800-metre-long park opened in 2024. To help trees and shrubs grow faster, soil was excavated across 70% of its area and a 1.5-metre-thick top layer was added. Five hundred trees were planted along the park, while lowered areas, known as rain gardens, are intended to collect water during heavy rainfall.
A four-storey paid car park with 2,000 spaces was built beneath the northern and southern wings of Zuidpark, with entrances located outside the park. The Leca green corridor in northwestern Portugal and Peace Park in Vicenza, Italy, also made the shortlist. The winner of the prize, organized every two years by the Barcelona Centre for Contemporary Culture together with six European architectural institutions, will be announced on October 15.
