On the night of June 13 in Madrid, the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation presented the eighth edition of the Richard H. Driehaus Construction Arts Awards. These awards are given in four categories and seek to preserve and encourage recognition of masters of the traditional construction trades.
The prizes are awarded annually to masters who have stood out in the conservation and continuation of the traditional arts of construction and are endowed with 10,000 euros in each category: masonry and stonework, carpentry work, finishing and other traditional construction work and glass and metal work.
This year’s winners were Sebastián Pérez Gomez, master bricklayer and brick carver; Friedrich Bramsteidl, specialist in forging work with a hydraulic mallet; Max Rutgers, master carpenter and Julio Barbero, specialist in the sgraffito technique.
The Construction Arts Awards are organized by the Traditional Constructive Cultures Foundation with the collaboration of INTBAU Spain, the Ministry of Culture and Sports, through the General Directorate of Fine Arts, and the Higher Council of Colleges of Architects of Spain .
“These traditional arts of construction have been collecting for centuries the knowledge of countless generations about the sustainable use of a place’s resources and the essential rules for creating beautiful and comfortable spaces and environments with them. It is these traditional arts that have given rise to the material heritage that we admire today and without them the conservation of this heritage would eventually be doomed to failure. “They are the fruit of our culture and our territory, a hallmark that makes the construction of each region unique, and they constitute an irreplaceable wealth of knowledge about the environment and how to inhabit it not only with respect, but also with long-term benefit,” explains Alejandro García Hermida, executive director of the Foundation.
He also emphasizes: “Today, however, many of these trades are at risk of disappearing and, with them, the experience of the many generations of teachers who have practiced and transmitted them may be lost.”
Four awards
The first category, named after Rodrigo de la Torre in homage to who was one of the main Spanish master stonemasons – awarded in 2020 – includes the work of arches and vaults, vault stairs, stone carving and other works of masonry and stonework. The jury decided to award this prize to Sebastián Pérez Gómez de Fuentes de Andalucía (Seville), master bricklayer and brick carver.
The second category includes wooden armor and structures, furniture, muqarnas, turning, wood carving, door and window carpentry and other carpentry work. The prize was awarded to the master carpenter Max Rutgers, who carries out his work from Alto Ampurdán in Girona.
The third category includes tiles, mosaics, plasterwork, stuccos, sgraffito, decorative flooring and other traditional finishes. The prize in this category was awarded to the Avila master Julio Barbero, specialized in lime coatings and one of the main masters of the sgraffito technique.
The fourth category covers forging, ironwork, locksmithing, leaded stained glass and other traditional metal and glass work. On this occasion the master blacksmith Friedrich Bramsteid was selectedlwho from Mazonovo, in Santa Eulalia de Oscos (Asturias) has revitalized the work of forging with hydraulic mallet in Spain.
The jury, which met this year at the headquarters of the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Spain (IPCE), was made up of a group of professionals of recognized prestige in the field of defense of architecture and traditional construction trades. Its members were Jesús Adeva Alonso, Elena Agromayor Navarrete, Álvaro Fernández-Villaverde y de Silva, Leopoldo Gil Cornet, Rafael Manzano Martos, Luis Prieto Prieto and María Pía Timón Tiemblo. The jury was chaired by Alejandro García Hermida.
Furthermore, in order to contribute to continuing the work they carry out, in each edition the jury selects one of the four winners, who are provided with additional financial support for the training of an apprentice for a period of one year. . Said apprentice also receives financial aid during his training stage. The jury selected the teacher Sebastián Pérez Gómez for this purpose.
More about the Traditional Constructive Cultures Foundation
The purpose of the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation is to promote and promote the study, protection, teaching, dissemination and conservation of traditional Construction, Architecture and Urban Planning, those that are typical of the different regions of the world.
Founded recently, but with a long history, it has been established with the purpose of strengthening, giving continuity and expanding a series of initiatives organized since 2012 in Spain and Portugal thanks to the support of the American philanthropist Richard H. Driehaus.
The initiatives organized by the Foundation seek to continue the expertise that has allowed us to design, build and preserve the places that we most admire. To this end, it organizes awards, competitions, scholarships, publications, exhibitions, conferences, meetings and courses, among many other activities.
On the front page: Award-winning photo: From left to right: Daniel Monfort Vinuesa, Manager of the Superior Council of Colleges of Architects of Spain; Julio Barbero, master of lime coatings specialized in the sgraffito technique; Friedrich Bramsteidl, master blacksmith specialized in forging work with a hydraulic mallet; Susana Alcalde Amieva, Deputy Director General of the Spanish Cultural Heritage Institute (IPCE) of the Ministry of Culture and Sports; Leopoldo Gil Cornet, president of the Traditional Constructive Cultures Foundation; Max Rutgers, master carpenter; Sebastián Pérez Gómez, master bricklayer and brick carver and Alejandro García Hermida, executive director of the Traditional Constructive Cultures Foundation.
Source: lelien
