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Living Places – Simon Architecture Prize reaches its 6th edition backed by the quality of the winning works and the originality of its audiovisual format.
With the premiere of the short film Caçador de Geometries by Matilda Vidal de Llobatera, the new edition is presented and the call for entries opens.
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The new edition of the Living Places – Simon Architecture Prize 2026 has just been unveiled at Simon's Casa de la Llum in Barcelona, opening the call for entries through late September. It is a Simon initiative, curated by the Fundación Mies van der Rohe, through which the company underlines the values that tie it to architecture, keeping people at the centre — along with the power of the best architecture to create a sense of belonging, one that reaches beyond spaces to the places where we, as humans, actually live.
The event included the premiere of the short film Caçador de Geometries by filmmaker Matilda Vidal de Llobatera.This year, the call also coincides with Barcelona's designation as UNESCO World Capital of Architecture 2026 and reaffirms Simon's sustained commitment to architectural culture.
Audience at the presentation of the Living Places – Simon Architecture Prize at Casa de la Llum.
The growing prestige of the Living Places – Simon Architecture Prize reaches its sixth edition backed by the quality of the winning works and the originality of its audiovisual format. It also brings to the fore how architecture is, above all, the space where we go about our daily actions and rituals — a space that frames dynamic, vital and emotional processes.
During the presentation, Imma Ruiz, Global Chief Brand & Communication at Simon, highlighted the collaboration with the Fundación Mies van der Rohe in shaping the award, and how walking hand in hand with the foundation has opened up a new perspective on architecture for Simon. For her part, Laida Memba Ikuga, architect and collaborator at the Fundación Mies van der Rohe, stressed that, in this exceptional year for architecture, the various initiatives — including the award — aim to bring the discipline closer to the wider public.
With the premiere of the short film Caçador de Geometries — shot at the Les Feixes building on the Costa Brava, designed in 1973 by Josep Maria Pla i Torras — the new call for the Living Places – Simon Architecture Prize 2026 opens.
The author of this piece, commissioned by Simon for the occasion, is filmmaker Matilda Vidal de Llobatera who, alongside Cierto Estudio and B67 Palomeras Arquitectes, was recognised at the previous Living Places 2025 edition with the Best Audiovisual Narrative award for the work Quinze Decibels, Consell de Cent-Eix Verd. Vidal de Llobatera, director of the TV documentary series "Animals Arquitectes" and "Entre quatre parets", stands out for her sensitive gaze on the surroundings, exploring the relationships between landscape, space and architecture through the language of documentary.
Premiere of the short film Caçador de Geometries opening the new call for the Prize.
After the screening, attendees were able to go deeper into the production through a talk led by Anna Sala Giralt, architect and head of the curatorial area at the Fundación Mies van der Rohe, joined by the filmmaker and by Sesi Bergeret, jury member of the 6th edition of the award and herself a filmmaker and programmer.
Vidal de Llobatera noted that the choice of the Les Feixes building responds to a wish to give visibility to a singular, fairly unknown architecture. She confessed that the hunter of geometries was herself, "in my obsession with capturing the beauty of architecture and the settings around us". "To be a hunter," she pointed out, "you need to wander. That is when you can find those small treasures". She also called for having time to look and to see, and pointed to the figure of the flâneur who strolls and cherishes the experience of the present moment.
Premiere of the short film Caçador de Geometries opening the new call for the Prize.
The call for the Living Places – Simon Architecture Prize now opens the registration period through the end of September, for works completed between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2025. In this edition the international jury is made up of architect Fernanda Canales as chair, filmmaker Sesi Bergeret, architects Benjamín Iborra and Wojciech Maza, and Salvi Plaja, Chief Design Officer at Simon and President of the FAD.
After the jury's deliberation, in December the winners will be announced in the categories Collective Places and Personal Places, together with the Best Audiovisual Narrative award and the 10 finalists. The awards ceremony will take place in Barcelona in February 2027, following the screening of each project's video at the Phenomena cinema. Winning architects will receive a €10,000 prize and a trophy designed by Andreu Carulla.
Celebrating the presentation and opening of the Living Places Prize call at Casa de la Llum, Simon HQ.
It has now been 10 years since Simon first launched the Living Places – Simon Architecture Prize, a biennial award marking the centenary of the company's founding. Over these five editions, more than 500 architecture studios from 34 countries have taken part, judged by an equally international and interdisciplinary jury that brings together experts from design, architecture, cinema and audiovisual communication.
Written by Marta Rodríguez Bosch