The Alicante Provincial Council awarded the prizes for the international preliminary design competition for the construction of the Elche Congress Palace. The winning design, named Trencadís, is the work of the architecture firm García Rodríguez Alcoba SLP. The award ceremony took place in the Plenary Hall of the Provincial Palace, in Alicante, four months after the winning proposal was made public.
It has been announced that the sketches and plans of the works exhibited in the gardens of the Provincial Council will subsequently travel to Elche for display. Additionally, the Provincial Council and the City Council will soon sign an agreement to establish economic and management collaboration for these facilities, which requires the prior constitution of a mixed commission.
The Provincial Council has assured that contacts have already begun with the winning architecture firm to advance the drafting of the basic and execution project. However, a start date for the works has not been specified. The provincial institution insists that deadlines are being met and that the project will become a reality, following the established roadmap.
The Trencadís design, selected from 104 proposals, has been awarded 108,900 euros and will form the basis for the drafting of the execution project and construction management, valued at 5.3 million euros. The jury highlighted its strategic elevated position above the street, providing wide and direct views of the Palm Grove, creating a more open and transversal urban relationship. The architects emphasized that the Elche Palm Grove is the main protagonist of the intervention, seeking perfect integration with the site.
The Elche Congress Palace will be located on a plot next to the Bus Station, opposite the UMH, with an estimated cost of 50 million euros. The building will have a capacity for over 3,000 people and a surface area of 13,000 square meters, allowing it to combine congress events with musical uses. It will include a main hall of 2,000 square meters with 1,200 seats, five auxiliary halls, offices, a cafeteria, a press room, warehouses, a 2,000 square meter exhibition area, and a three-story car park with 420 spaces.
