Barcelona Ceramics Chair

The Barcelona Ceramics Chair at the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture offers an elective Ceramics Chair subject. It provides an opportunity for meetings and engagement between architecture students and ceramics manufacturers. The goal is to undertake a research project in which students produce an innovative ceramic material that is applied to the field of architecture.

At the end of the year, a jury of four prestigious architects and a representative from ASCER will award three prizes to the best projects. Meanwhile, students are also encouraged to present their work at the Indistile CEVISAMA (Feria Valencia), international competition where our School has always managed to be among the winners. Every year the Barcelona Ceramics Chair releases a publication containing a compilation of our students’ work.

Visits to the Rosa Gres factory in Tarragona and the Ricardo Bofill Architecture Workshop

Students were able to observe the different production stages for architectural ceramic pieces made by the ceramics company, Rosa Gres.

Students were able to learn about different methods to produce tiles, enamelled stoneware and porcelain stoneware: from mixing raw materials, to shaping pieces (through pressing and extrusion systems), and finally, enamelling. Similarly, students found out about the different quality controls in place for ceramic pieces before they can be distributed and sold on the market. “It’s very important for our students to see and learn about the different production systems of the materials they are going to use as experts, and for them to appreciate the importance of the ceramics industry in our country. The visit to Rosa Gres will also stimulate their imagination when designing new products for the market. It’s a real privilege for us to be able to visit the premises”, Vicenç Sarrablo stated.

Rosa Gres is a company specialised in manufacturing high-quality ceramic pavements. The company is a member of the Spanish Ceramic Tile Manufacturers’ Association (ASCER), which sponsors the Ceramics Chair at the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture. The students travelled to the town of Sant Just Desvern near Barcelona to visit the Ricardo Bofill Architecture Workshop, housed in a former cement factory reconverted in the ‘70s, as well as the famous Walden 7 building.

They were accompanied by the director of the chair, Dr Vicenç Sarrablo, along with lecturers Jordi Roviras and Cristina Garcia Castelao as well as architect Hernán Cortés. Cortés is part of the Ricardo Bofill team and was a student of the first edition of the Ceramics Chair in 2004-2005. In addition to the offices, located in the former silos of the factory, the students were taken on a tour showing them the model workshops, the archives, “The Cathedral” (the workshop’s exhibition space) and the surrounding gardens.

After visiting the Ricardo Bofill workshop, the students went to visit the Walden 7 building, one of the most iconic works of architecture in Catalonia from the ‘70s, designed by Ricardo Bofill himself using ceramic materials.

Students from the UIC Barcelona Ceramics Chair once again win CevisamaLab awards

This is the 15th consecutive year in which our architecture students have managed to leave their stamp at one of the sector’s most prestigious competitions.

Graduate Joan Marc Garcés and students Esther Basterra and Guillermo Marfá, obtained first prize, second prize and a secondary award respectively under category B of the competition. This category covers “Ceramic products formed using other methods”. The awarded projects were exhibited in pavilions 2 and 4 of the Feria Valenciana during the Cevisma event.

Our student Esther Basterra received second prize for her work entitled “Cool Jar”, a ceramic piece which aims to reduce heat through the retention of rain water. The jury underlined “the originality of her technical drainable pavement solution as well as her research into a line of sustainable products for public spaces”. Another of our students, Guillermo Marfá, received second prize for his project entitled “Solar CEM”, due to “the incorporation of renewable energy and vegetation into a ceramic element to be used for large facades”. Last year Marfá also won in this category after taking first prize for his project entitled “Ceramic Squama”.

This year our graduate Joan Marc Garcés Sabaté won first prize in the same category for his project entitled “Komorebi”. The jury highlighted “the simplicity of the system and the good way he has used light by creating permeable and versatile spaces” in his work. Garcés is a veteran of these awards since it is the third time he has received an award there.