Spanish building on Cloud 9

By James Bryce

AN innovative Spanish building has seen off fierce competition to win one of the world’s top architecture prizes.

The Media-TIC was crowned World Building of the Year 2011 at the World Architecture Festival Awards (WAF) held, appropriately, in its home city of Barcelona.

The cube-like structure – which will provide space for companies and university research and training – was picked from 16 finalists by a panel of industry experts.

The project was designed by Spanish architects Cloud 9 with an emphasis on its green credentials, which include solar panels on the roof, sun filters and smart sensors to increase energy efficiency.

In his acceptance speech, Cloud 9 architect Enric Ruiz-Geli said the building should act as a seed for ‘an environmental revolution’.

The competition, now in its fourth year, attracted over 700 submissions from 59 different countries.