Piscina & Wellness 2021 awards prizes to the most innovative aquatic projects, facilities and solutions

Over the course of a gala dinner that brought more than 300 businesspeople and professionals to Fira Barcelona’s Gran Via venue last night, the names of the winners of the Piscina & Wellness Barcelona Awards, the Wellness Experience Awards and the International Architecture Student Competition were announced. The three competitions recognise the most innovative aquatic products, spaces and facilities that improve people’s use and enjoyment of swimming pools, as well as projects submitted by students from architecture schools around the world. At the same event, the EUSA Awards, organised by the Federation of European Associations of the sector, were presented to the best private pools and spas of the year.

The jury of the Piscina & Wellness Barcelona Awards recognised the best aquatic facilities, projects and solutions capable of offering users new benefits in terms of health, well-being and the creation of community spaces, and also considered the degree of innovation, sustainability and the value proposition of the works, projects and products presented. A total of 46 applications were received from 15 countries, mainly from Spain, Brazil, Mexico and France.

In the Pools are Well-Being category, the winner in the “Fun” section was Zamá Fun Area, a children’s and family leisure project inspired by Mayan cultural heritage and located in the Bahía Príncipe Grand Tulum Hotel of the Piñeiro Group (Akumal, Mexico), while in “Aquatic Relaxation” the prize went to the Punta Calizaboutique hotel (Holbox Island, Quintana Roo, Mexico) for its architecture that seamlessly blends into the surrounding nature, its central pool and its unique flooded corridors.

In Pools are Health, the Aquatic Therapy Unit of the Hospital Fundación Instituto San José, in Madrid, was the winner in the “Aquatic Treatment” section for the neurological rehabilitation therapies they carry out. Meanwhile, Alaïa Bay, an artificial wave facility for surfing in the middle of the Swiss Alps, won an award in the “Water Sports” category for offering a unique experience in a safe environment.

In the Pools are Community, aquatic access and community improvement category, the award went to the Aquaticum thermal complex in the city of Debrecen, Hungary, which combines a spa and water park, making it a flagship destination for the local community.

The award for the Best Innovative Product in Sustainability at the fair went to the EPS Pool by Hydra System Pools, a system for building swimming pools that reduces structural weight and saves energy in heated pools. The Best Innovative Product in Connectivity went to Astralpool’s Neolysis 2 UV+ Saline Electrolysis, a system that combines the power of UV sanitisation with the efficiency of salt chlorination and can be managed from a mobile device.

Wellness Experience Awards
The jury of the Wellness Experience Awards, which evaluated thirty candidates from Spain and Portugal, awarded the prize for Best Spa to Las Caldas Villa Termal, located a few kilometres from Oviedo, in Asturias; the prize for Best Thalassotherapy Centre to Thalasia Costa de Murcia Hotel & Spa, in San Pedro del Pinatar, Murcia; and the prize for Best Spa to Aqva Gerunda Banys Romans, located in Girona.

International Competition for Architecture Students
The third edition of the competition for students from architecture schools around the world received entries for 39 projects across 11 countries, mainly from India, China, Japan, Russia, Mexico and Spain.

In this edition, the candidates presented a project for a public aquatic centre, hypothetically located in the Plaça Gaudí in Barcelona opposite the Sagrada Família.

The jury – made up of architects, experts with ties to the city, and the sponsor of the competition, Fluidra – took into consideration the use of sustainable concepts, as well as the implementation of innovative solutions that reflect on the value of water for uses related to health, well-being and the community.

The winner of the first prize in the competition was the “Santuario Aquatico” project presented by Ivana Angelova, Jingjing Ge and Wenqing Ding of the International Program in Architecture and Urban Design at Meiji University (Tokyo), the runner-up was Barcelona Water Park – Fisrt 11, by Iv Zhuoke and Ma Yunwen of Zhejiang University of Technology (China), and students Zhang Chengzhi and Sun Wenxuande of Chongqing University (China) came in third with their project “The Flow”.

In addition to the winners, the four finalist projects received an honourable mention and are on display in the show’s Innovation Zone gallery: “A new thought, a new vision” (Vologda State University – Russia); “LLUVIA 77” (Universität der Künste, Berlin – Germany); Aveon_Terrain that blend with space – 25 (B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology – India); and “Huella del agua, 23” (Universitat Internacional de Catalunya – Spain).

Finally, the Special Professional Career Award was presented to the president of the Fluidra Foundation, Joan Planes, for his personal involvement in the ongoing promotion of innovation in the pool sector.

Barcelona, 30 November 2021

Mª Gloria Dilluvio – Mª Dolors Herranz

93 233 21 72 – 93 233 25 41
gdilluvio@firabarcelona.com – mdherranz@fira