Header: h3o architects
The latest edition of Concéntrico—the urban innovation lab that explores the city through architecture and design—was recently presented in Madrid with a renewed focus. This year’s programme includes calls for permanent projects, educational initiatives, exhibitions, and travelling events, as directors want to reinforce Concéntrico’s role as a platform for urban space and planning professionals to enter new conversations.
Since launching in 2015 as the International Festival of Architecture and Design in Logroño, Concéntrico has produced over 150 interventions in ten years. It has since grown into a wider platform with events in cities like Milan, Bucharest, Barcelona, Madrid, Dammam, Huesca, and Logroño.
At the launch, Logroño’s mayor, Conrado Escobar, described the project as a dynamic initiative that positions the city as a space for urban experimentation. Over the past decade, Concéntrico has contributed to shaping Logroño as a site of architectural research and innovation, focusing on improving how people live and interact with their surroundings.
Themes for 2025
This year’s edition will focus on national and international projects culminating in the festival in Logroño from June 19 to 24. The 2025 programme centres on water, food, and the urban landscape.
- Water will be a core theme for installations in spaces like fountains, roundabouts, and riverbanks—particularly in the context of climate change.
- Food will shape a public event focused on shared spaces, taking inspiration from markets, communal meals, and picnics.
- Urban landscape will explore ways to preserve non-intervened spaces, highlighting vacant lots and small squares as opportunities for more inclusive, accessible urbanism.
Highlights
The main event—the International Festival of Architecture and Design in Logroño—will bring together artists, architects, and the public, inviting them to explore new ways of engaging with the city. This year’s participants include Leopold Banchini Architects, MVRDV, Zyva Studio, SalazarSequeroMedina, Sam Chermayeff Office, Studio ACTE, Andreia Garcia + Diogo Aguiar, Bayona Studio, Traumnovelle, Lemonot + O-SH, Erazo Pugliese, BairBalliet, Nami ñami Studio, Soft Baroque, Sahra Hersi, h3o architects, Emil Ivãnescu + Simina Filat Design, IC-98 & Suomi-Koivisto, Miastopracownia, Małgorzata Devosges-Cuber and Chris Kabel, among others.
They’ll be joined by the winners of the international open calls: Studio An-An, Abad, Borneo, and JMBAD (Joseph Melka, Balthazar Auguste-Dormeuil). These participants join the festival through partnerships with institutions focused on cultural, urban, and environmental development.
Urban Climate Island in Parque Felipe VI
In collaboration with Logroño City Council and LIF 2002, Concéntrico will present an urban climate island in Parque Felipe VI. The project responds to climate change’s impact on communities, especially rising temperatures, so it aims to transform the space into a thermal refuge, using shade structures, vegetation, and permeable materials to reduce heat and improve comfort.
Out of 252 proposals from 49 countries, the jury selected “Al agua patos” by K37.lab (Carlos Iraburu Elizalde, Álvaro Oriol, José Rodríguez-Losada, and Carlos Iraburu Bonafé). Their design includes two main layers and a connecting boundary forming a central garden, along with a modular pergola and an accessible pond.
Year-Round programs
Leading up to the festival, Concéntrico has run a range of activities, including a school programme involving 32 schools across Spain. Artists like Maider López and Matali Crasset have collaborated on classroom projects such as “Nervaduras y condos” and “How We Experience School, How We Experience the City,” which encourage students to reflect on their surroundings and imagine new possibilities for the spaces they use every day.
A book supported by the Ministry of Culture will document the project’s 10-year history and look ahead to cities’ future. It will launch alongside projects like “Performing Architecture” with BASE Milano and new collaborations with Ciudad Juárez, Romanian Design Week, and Instituto Cervantes (with events in Prague and Chicago).
