2009 International Stone Architecture Award--Restoration of Plaza del Torico

Project: Restoration of Plaza del Torico, Teruel, Spain (2007)

Architect: Fermin Vázquez, b720 Arquitectos, Barcelona, Spain

Primary stone material: Basalt

Jury comments

“This project is of intense interest because it represents an intervention in a space that is central to its city, but small in size and with an irregular shape. Of further interest is the fact that the subsoil contains a series of archeological finds and large medieval cisterns, which have now been recovered through a subterranean pathway that completes this complex restoration.”

“For the restoration, stone was used in combination with an original form of illumination, transforming stone and light into a single whole.”