Buildner's Unbuilt Award 2024 competition participants - Victoria Ayesta Borras

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to the prize winner of our "Buildner's Unbuilt Award 2024 competition – Victoria Ayesta Borras!

Victoria Ayesta Borras

Please tell us about your company (when it was founded, where it is based, how many employees, etc) Alternatively, if you do not have a company, please give us some insights on your own professional/academia background.

Y-arch is an umbrella name for many projects done with collaborations in between architects mainly from Barcelona but residents in the UK Spain and Colombia. We have all studied in Barcelona and USA as well as Colombia and UK.

Brief information about the projects that you/your company have been involved with. For instance, what scale have you focused on/preferred, any significant projects where the company/ individuals have been Involved?

We have been involved in medium scale projects such as a library in Santa Marta , Colombia , a park in Barcelona, and many small scale as private houses as well as refurbishments and interior design mainly in hospitality, restaurants and private houses.

What does architecture mean to you and what is the role of an architect in your society?

Architecture is a big world we need to take care of because through it we can make a better way of living . Helping with our work decarbonise . making a better social impact whether is for a community for a business or for an individual private person. Beauty is also something we think about when projecting, we are not scare of commenting that we prefere “beautiful” as well as KM0 as much as possible.

Why do you participate in architecture competitions?

We entered this competition to extend this porject’s life. We think this project could help showing peoples how extreme some of the living conditions can be, and therefore how we can as architects reduce the extremeness.

What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to decide whether it would be beneficial for them to participate in architecture competitions?

When you are doing competitions you are putting yourself into your best creative mood , my favourite place to be, personally . It is a moment that will be positive for the present and for the future. In Competitions you always learn and you will be able to use that learning somehow in your practice.