Eume Energy Basin
Leventhal City Prize: Energy Intersections
2025–2028
. . .
Research and design team
- Roi Salgueiro Barrio, principal investigator, MIT
- Aurora Armental and Stefano Ciurlo, Estar
- Luís Díaz Díaz, photography
- Manuel Bouzas Barcala, Cornell School of Architecture
- Fundación RIA: Manuel Rodríguez López, Alfonso Beltrán, Adrián Capelo, Lucía Escrigas, Inés Piñeiro
In partnership with
-
Concello de As Pontes de García Rodríguez
- Diputación Provincial da Coruña
Eume Energy Basin proposes that energy harvesting can become a tool for bridging community development and ecological care, seeking a balance between energy production, biodiversity, social equity, and urban needs.
We explore this possibility in the Eume River Basin, an area which has experienced a rapid energetic transition due to the closing of As Pontes coal-fueled power plant, and to the installation in the region of dozens of wind energy parks. In this area of rich biodiversity, we propose two lines of action:
First, the design of an Energy Environment. The Eume River Basin can be described as an “operational landscape,” delivering abundant energy to Spanish cities. The convergence of energy production and human occupation must be acknowledged as part of the urbanization process and treated as a space for design. We will collaborate with local partners to produce an integrated, ecological, and energy-conscious Territorial Plan for the Eume River Basin—the first of its kind in Spain.
Second, the implementation of Hyper-Local Strategies for Energy Transition within this energy environment. These strategies will complement the territorial plan through three architectural and infrastructural interventions that will harness renewable energy as a tool for social, economic, and ecological revitalization.
In all, the project mobilizes the region’s ecological and social conditions as primary drivers in the design and implementation of energy systems.