LA BAZANA

SCALES — XL/L/S – Territorial / Urban / Architectural LOCATION — Jerez de los Caballeros/La Bazana conurbation POPULATION — 332 inhab. STRATEGIC SITE — 11,5 ha / PROJECT SITE — 1,75 ha SITE PROPOSED BY — Architecture Department, Extremadura Regional Government OWNER OF THE SITE — Public POST-COMPETITION PHASE — Urban planning, architecture

Esther Gamero Ceballos-Zúñiga — Head of Architecture, Quality and Accessibility. Government of Extremadura

1. WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF THE SITE MUTATION? We are looking for a solution that can invert the current depopulation trend in 3 colonization townships –Valuengo, Brovales and La Bazana–, which are part of the Jerez de los Caballeros conurbation. We also want to generate environment-friendly economic activity that will help to stabilize this population and at the same time preserve the local cultural, architectural and environmental heritage.

2. HOW CAN THE SITE BE INTEGRATED IN THE ISSUES OF PRODUCTIVE CITIES? HOW DO YOU CONSIDER THE PRODUCTIVITY ISSUE? This territory, chosen due to its good geographical location, is an incentive for the spatial development of several productive sectors —agriculture, industry, business and tourism. In the specific study area, we are looking to propitiate a reorganisation of the open public spaces in La Bazana, including the inner squares designed in the original project and others on either side of the main street, as well as proposals for the reuse of public buildings that can foster the dynamics needed to attract population and production.

3. HAVE YOU ALREADY DEFINED A SPECIFIC PROCESS FOR THE URBAN AND/OR ARCHITECTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE AFTER EUROPAN? Responsible exploitation of the local ethnographic and natural resources —primarily water and open woodland (dehesa) landscapes is envisaged, employing the existing infrastructure and implementing a range of activities, all with a view to catalyse the development of the region. The push towards a diversification of uses should allow the maintenance of sustainable production to be compatible with the maintenance of the local citizens’ well-being. The proposal will articulate the framework document for the implementation of the project.

Bazana Go!

AUTHOR(S) — Virginia De Jorge- Huertas (ES), Nicolás Gutiérrez (ES), Architects CONTRIBUTOR(S) — Berta Calle Martos (ES), Student in architecture; Jaime Cored (ES), Marta Monzón (ES), Building Engineers CONTACT — Madrid (ES) T. +34 656541035 virginiadjh@gmail.com, bazanago.wordpress.com

LA BAZANA (ES) — WINNER

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — Nowadays the Spanish rural population is being part of a process of demographic exodus. Bazana GO offers its inhabitants tools for the efficient management of the rural space and the bases for their future sustainability. Through the implantation of a cooperative of ecological production, we propose to establish the irrigating community under an agricultural cooperative. A 15-years action plan is drawn up as a temporary framework. We propose the connection and hybridization between the rural and the urban by framing the look towards the landscape like De La Sota did in 1954, recovering the landscape vision and the old irrigation channel to contain the growth of the city towards the valley. A succession of natural ponds will be implemented and treated by processes of organic wastewater treatment, allowing the succession of events through the specificity of each space. It is a project developed in progressive way.

JURY POINT OF VIEW — The project achieves a perfect balance between all the variables at play here. It works with the local population and its small scale productive industry; it identifies the variety of agricultural and livestock products from the perspective of a sustainable ecological cooperative; it detects potential new users and residents who will gradually integrate into the urban fabric and contribute to its gradual growth. The proposal works on this urban fabric in a very respectful way, extending it within the township boundaries with small-scale interventions.

La Fábrica de Suelos

AUTHOR(S) — Lucille Bricks (FR), Adrien Picandet (FR), Simon Portelas (FR), Architects; Justine Caussanel (FR), Camille Chastanet (FR), Clara Delmond (FR), Félicien PecquetCaumeil (FR), Claire Vernhes (FR), Architects-urbanists CONTACT — MEAT, Paris (FR) T. +33 678378497 meat.architectures@gmail.com www.meatarchitectures.com LA BAZANA (ES) — RUNNER-UP

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — “La Fabrica de Suelos” is sustained by a shared initiative, based on the exchange between different actors of the territory. Productive yet sustainable, the project renders the agricultural land more productive while diversifying the crops, enriching the soils and ecosystems. Modest yet virtuous, very little monetary investment is needed while developing a great capacity to produce newfound riches by involving other sectors. Rural yet precious, inspired by traditional frugal systems, it proposes to reinvent the means of implementing a production of the town that is more local and responsible. Specific yet adaptable, it has been thought out specifically for the territory of La Bazana but can adapt to other situations and territorial contexts with similar characteristics.

JURY POINT OF VIEW — While many proposals try to inject a totally new element in La Bazana in order to provoke change, this project chooses to work with the original reason of the foundation of La Bazana: the agricultural use of the land. Adapting the cultivation of the soil is put forward as a method to reactivate the territory. The model of agricultural production can evolve slowly and does not need large investments. It can go hand in hand with corresponding touristic development of the area. The proposal is appreciated as a very authentic and highly sustainable way of bringing new life in the area.

AUTHOR(S) — Antonio Miguel Bonilla Eslava (ES), Violeta Ramos Expósito (ES), María Anguita García (ES), Pedro Ortiz Soto (ES), Paula Herrera Fernández (ES), Architects CONTRIBUTOR(S) — Clara Fischer del Hoyo (ES), Student in architecture CONTACT — Sevilla (ES), T. + 34 617785034 15may2026bazana@gmail.com www.espaciores.org / www.laplasitaproyectos.com

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — La Bazana has become a benchmark in Europe as Transition Town, “The place of possible things” our familiar landscape and the collective desire in making the UN’s proposals pointed our way ahead. Food and energy sovereignty as well as circular economy improve the quality of life. Our past encourages us to participate in our customs and makes us feel proud of hosting tourists. Universities and the Grazing School agreements attract brilliant minds. Free Education, connected to the land and to the practice, leads our system. Plantations grow up from pots, creating efficient economies through Guadiana River. We have reinvented ourselves thanks to new ways of colonizing the land: fair and solidarity. Today we celebrate the 70 years anniversary of this town. The best is yet to come.

FAB LABazana

AUTHOR(S) — Valentina Crupi (IT), Luca Del Fabbro Machado (IT), Architects-urbanists CONTACT — info@2128architetti.com, www.2128architetti.com

LA BAZANA (ES) — SPECIAL MENTION

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — The design proposal intends to orientate La Bazana towards a new urban model, a locally productive and globally connected self-sufficient city. The goal is to reinvent the relationship between consumption and production through a circular economy system able to attract new resources: a “glocal” production, careful to local values but open to knowledge economy and global goods. To encourage the latent local economy, it also increases the touristic capacity by configuring the city as a widespread receptive platform, exploiting abandoned buildings and providing minimum services. Then, this kind of interventions aims at attracting an international creative public (researchers, intellectuals, artists…) that could trigger micro-economies linked to receptivity in a sustainable way.

AUTHOR(S) — Ana Sabugo (ES), José Manuel De Andrés (ES), Alicia Peña (ES), Victor Cano (ES), Architects CONTRIBUTOR(S) — José Javier Cullen (ES), Sofia Lens (ES), Architects CONTACT — Arquitectura Subalterna, Madrid (ES) T. +34 629715787 arquitecturasubalterna@gmail.com www.arquitecturasubalterna.com

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — La Bazana was founded ex novo by the Spanish National Colonization Institute in order to stop the rural exodus during the postwar period. The project proposes an innovative productive program based on insect rearing, an emerging sector at European level, capable of providing important economic, social and environmental benefits. The plan proposes to articulate this new productive infrastructure around the original axis. It is made of three phases: from the installation of breeding farms, through the habilitation of processing centers, to the opening of a food lab and service infrastructures guaranteeing the research and dissemination of entomology. Our aim is to place La Bazana as an international reference for insect farming, a sector that will play a key role in the 21st century.