The Place for Memory

With the idea of promoting gravitational balance in architectural production, tilted mainly towards Europe and Asia, the network of Latin American Architecture Biennials (Redbaal) instituted in 2016 the Oscar Niemeyer Prize. Every two years it will draw attention to the quality of works built in countries of the Redbaal (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and Venezuela). In its first edition, the jury, presided by Carlos Jiménez and including, among others, Glauco Campello, Lauro Cavalcanti, and Sara Topelson, gave the first prize to El lugar de la memoria (The Place for Memory), by Barclay & Crousse in Lima (Peru). The second prize went to the Brazilian Library in São Paulo (Brazil), by Eduardo de Almeida and Rodrigo Mindlin, and the third fell upon the San Bernardo Chapel in La Playosa (Argentina). Honorable mentions were bestowed on Building 03 98 in Loja (Ecuador), by Espinoza Carvajal Arquitectos; Toy Box in Mexico City, by Grupo Arquitectura; and the Training Center in Grano de Oro (Costa Rica), by Entre Nos Atelier.