Opengram 17: with architecture at the forefront
Over 1,600 people captured their 'architectural moment' during the 48H Open House BCN, making the city's skin the skin of its inhabitants
Five stone benches that, when viewed from above from a gallery of the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB), resemble the keys of a piano. A woman reading a book, some bushes, and the perspective of the building's courtyard complete the composition of the winning photograph of the #Opengram17 photo contest, held within the framework of the 48H OPEN HOUSE BCN Architecture Festival, which had Núñez i Navarro as the Official Collaborator.
The author of this image is Pilar Escobar, an architecture student who was impressed by the sea views and the interior hall of the building when a scene caught her attention to the point that “my eyes turned it into a photo instantly. A girl sitting alone in that large space, reading a book on a small bench at the entrance. I took out my phone and snapped the picture”. As an architecture student, she had no trouble interpreting the theme of the contest, because according to Pilar herself, “the skin of architecture is something embedded in our lives. Consciously or unconsciously, it is looked at, observed, appreciated, and thought about with an architectural focus”.
Another photo that literally represented the skin of architecture was the one taken by Instagrammer Roser Navarro at the Fabra i Coats Contemporary Art Center. In the foreground of the image, a column of the old factory space stands out, painted in two colors with a layer of flaking paint. The contrast between the turquoise and white colors of the pillar and a blurred human presence in the background complete the image. For the author, “I saw clearly that it fit the theme after taking it. I like textures. In this case, the color of the paint and the evidence of the passage of time caught my attention, and I thought it fit very well with the theme”.
More complicated was to represent the skin of the architecture to Oscar García Ortega, another finalist, with his photo taken at the Horta Cylinder: “it was necessary to combine many elements into a single image and that is only discovered when you are at the location and what inspires you at that moment to discover an image that meets the premise of the contest”.
He already has experience in this type of contests, since last year he was very close to winning the #MiraLaRotonda contest that Núñez i Navarro organized to celebrate the rehabilitation of the Andreu tower, La Rotonda. The instagramer remains optimistic and greatly values the fact of getting so far time and again: “it's a great compliment for me to have been a finalist. Being among the 10 selected out of more than 1600 seems to me a more than interesting proportion. In this case, I would like to fulfill the saying: there's no two without three or the third time's the charm”.
Like those three, more than 63,000 visitors attended the 48h Open House Barcelona event to discover places inaccessible to the general public for the rest of the year. Of all of them, more than 1,600 captured their “architectural moment”, turning the city's skin into the inhabitant's skin. Each in their own way tried to represent the theme of the campaign, The Skin of Architecture, which according to the organization, “aimed to provoke reflection and testimonial capacity in the viewer through the exchange of sensations between visitor and architectural space”. A jury composed of architectural photographers Nicanor García and Adrià Goula; the Marketing Director of Nuñez i Navarro, Daniel Zafra; the Director of the 48h OHBCN Association, Elisenda Bonet and the Social Media Manager of the 48h OHBCN, Albert Domènech, selected the 10 images that best represented The Skin of Architecture.
For Daniel Zafra, “it is really challenging to capture something as abstract as the skin of architecture in a photograph, and the 48H Open House Barcelona has once again stimulated the creative experience of the participants”. The Marketing Director of Núñez i Navarro also wanted to highlight the “honor that it has been for Núñez i Navarro to be the official collaborator of #Opengram17, as it brings together in a single project the architecture of Barcelona and photography, two disciplines that today are part of the DNA of our company”.
Once the screening was done, the final say was with the Instagram users. Thus, the winning photograph was decided by popular vote on Instagram among the 10 finalists. From the beginning, Pilar Escobar's photo stood out among the rest: “As my photo accumulated likes, I felt even more energized to delve deeper into the world of photography. I was moved to know that people found something special in my photo. It seemed incredible to be among the top ten finalists, I couldn't believe it! Moreover, many professional photographers and experts in the field participated”.
Pilar's best wishes came true and her photo was the winner with 1,043 likes received during the final process. The announcement of the winning photo took place on November 16 at the B-Hotel in Barcelona. The event was attended by the Director of the Associació 48h Open House BCN, Elisenda Bonet, and the Marketing Director of Núñez i Navarro, Daniel Zafra, who, as the official collaborator of the contest, presented Pilar Escobar with a hotel night for two, including breakfast at the Hotel Granvía, a prize that the winner considers “spectacular. The Hotel Granvía has been and is a cultural, social, and architectural benchmark in Barcelona. It's a pleasure to be able to enjoy a night there”. As spectacular as her photo, which brings architecture to the forefront.
