We won Ape Grupo Architecture Award
Us and competitions?
One November day, we got an unexpected phone call inviting us to take part in the Ape Grupo Architecture Awards. In general, competitions aren’t really our favourite discipline and we tend to avoid them. Our first — and for a long time also our last — competition was back in 2003 (God, that feels like ancient history!) the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo with Martin Roubík, where we placed 4th–7th out of about 1,500 teams from all around the world. For us, still students at the time, it was a huge success and actually the trigger that led us to start OOOOX. We realised that the whole competition scene just wasn’t something we enjoyed, so we politely turned down every invitation that followed. But Ape wouldn’t take no for an answer, and by the third phone call I finally gave in and said yes. We weren’t expecting anything to come of it.
That made it all the more surprising when a few weeks later the phone rang again to tell us we had won. The Ape Grupo Architecture Award is a competition focused on completed projects that work with the manufacturer’s products.
We won with our project Vily Amonita in Lanzarote, where we used tiles from the Carmen – Fayenza collection in the bathrooms. From the very beginning, I knew there had to be small-format green tiles on Lanzarote. We had to choose from the limited selection available on the island, and that’s where I came across Fayenza. The tiles then became a rather striking element in the otherwise white interior.
Jury’s comments:
During the deliberation, the jury praised “Villa Amonita Lanzarote” for its balance “between the natural and the intense volcanic landscape of the island and the white glossy surface of the materials, especially the ceramics that were used.” “A contrast maintained not only in the exterior but also in the interior tiles,” the evaluation states.
“The authors created a beautiful and captivating dialogue between nature and the building, between context and human intervention, where the new elements are truly subtle,” adds another note from the jury discussion. The “mastery of colours and materials, arranged simply yet very elegantly,” was also rated very positively. “A project that ultimately shows how attractive and sensitive life on the island of Lanzarote can be,” the evaluation concludes.
Ape Grupo showroom in Castellón
The awards ceremony took place in Castellón, at the Ape Grupo headquarters. Besides classic presentations, the showroom is also adapted for workshops and lectures, and the overall atmosphere is very welcoming. The new releases really impressed me. And because my mind is currently tuned to the south, I was blown away by the collections in nude tones and the hand‑crafted, rough texture of both the partition blocks and the tiles themselves. The A-Piedi collection fascinated me — not just the colours, but also the irregular, handmade shapes.
Cevisama
At the same time as the awards ceremony in Castellón and the "The Perfect Mix" event directly in the Ape Grupo showroom, the Cevisama fair was taking place in Valencia. It’s a small fair and more of a local presentation of manufacturers. The most interesting part was the exhibition created directly by the organizer. It was a “hotel” concept using the most interesting elements from selected participating manufacturers. It was an incredible zen. Did it put you in a summer mood too?
The AAA Award in Lanzarote
Our very first prize already has its place of honour in Lanzarote in Amonita, where I took it straight from Valencia — with a significantly overweight suitcase. It looks perfect there. You can read why it belongs there best in the article Conscious Architecture in Lanzarote with APE Grupo ceramics. And if you’d like to experience Lanzarote firsthand, you can rent our villa. We’ll be happy to prepare a guide for you and recommend the best local volcanic wines.
from Radka - 23. 3. 2026