The Concéntrico Festival

A creative wonderland set in urban spaces.

Held in Logroño, Spain, the Concéntrico Architecture and Design Festival welcomes visitors into an inspiring city filled with installations. For this year’s fourth edition, BoysPlayNice accompanied Czech studio Mjölk architekti to Logroño. The photographers captured the heart and soul of the festival, introducing it to the world. In order to highlight the spaces that usually go unnoticed in urban areas and create a link between the city, its heritage, and its inhabitants, the organizers invited 14 teams from several countries to design site-specific work.

All of the chosen locations, whether squares, courtyards, or terraces, have one thing in common. An important part in the city’s history, they have become largely dormant and often hidden. Thus, the aim of the festival is to rekindle their spirit while celebrating their distinctive character through contemporary architecture. Among the 14 projects, the concepts vary greatly. For example, visitors and locals had the opportunity to admire La Plaza, an installation that encouraged reflection and contemplation through a pool of water set between two concrete posts. Elsewhere, the RINGdeLUXE pneumatic golden ring adorned Instituto Estudios Riojanos and transformed the traditional building into a contemporary art piece.

In Plaza de Santa Ana, Mjölk studio installed a wooden cage around a street lamp to create a special meeting place after dusk, while outside the city, in the countryside, the Glimpse installation stood out among the vineyards of La Rioja with its cloud formations and vertical supports. Apart from these creative interventions, the festival also included exhibitions, workshops, and themed talks. The fourth edition of the Concéntrico Architecture and Design Festival took place between 27th April and 1st May, 2018. Photographs© Jakub Skokan and Martin Tůma / BoysPlayNice.