Cris Ballester Parets awarded 2024 RA architecture prize

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Award recognises bioregional social housing on the Balearic Islands

Salvador Espiru 39, 8 Social Housing Units – Palma, Mallorca. courtesy El Croquis, photograph Jesús Granada (2)

Source: Jesús Granada, courtesy of El Croquis

Salvador Espiru 39, 8 Social Housing Units – Palma, Mallorca, 2018-2021

The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) has announced that Cris Ballester Parets has been awarded the 2024 Royal Academy Architecture Prize. Now in its sixth year, the prize – supported by the Dorfman Foundation – recognises Ballester Parets for her work in bioregional sustainable social housing in the Balearic Islands.

The jury noted: “The 2024 RA Architecture Prize has been awarded to Cris Ballester Parets, representing a remarkable, collective research and production of bioregional social housing on the Balearic Islands undertaken between 2019-23. The collective was necessarily wide-ranging and cross-disciplinary.

“Ballester Parets worked particularly closely with architect Carles Oliver Barceló, residents, many leading architectural practices, economists, politicians, manufacturers, local suppliers and policy makers. They developed an extraordinary model for building equitably, re-establishing local material supply chains and manufacturing, with fairer procurement and world-class climatically responsive architectural expression of social housing.”

The jury, chaired by Royal Academicians and 6a architects founders Tom Emerson and Stephanie Macdonald, included several prominent figures in architecture and design, such as architect Stéphanie Bru of Paris-based Bruther, artist Goshka Macuga, and architect Níall McLaughlin.

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Cris Ballester Parets commented on the award: “I am honoured to have been recognised for my role within a network of independent collaborators and representing the singular ecosystem we have developed for the creation of architecturally significant, bioregional and sustainable social housing in the Balearic Islands in the period 2019-2023.”

She highlighted the importance of overcoming legal and financial challenges to achieve environmentally and socially innovative housing: “These homes are flexible and reflect the diverse groups that inhabit them – from single parents to families and the elderly. Some encourage other ways of co-living with an abundance of communal spaces. This prize is a welcome recognition of the work of many passionate collaborators.”

The Royal Academy Dorfman Prize shortlist, recognising new talent in architecture, included b+, Livyi Bereh, Salima Naji, and TEN.

>> Also read: Renée Gailhoustet wins RA’s 2022 architecture prize