The project by Isabel Díaz de Miguel and Núria de Fidel was the only one to assess the idea of turning the ground floor into a public space, used to preserve the archaeological remains found on the ground floor of Elche Market. The project led to controversy, as it increases the building located in the old part of the city in both height and volume. The different treatment given to the facades was positively valued, depending on the direction in which they face and on the use of the different opacities of the Flexbrick ceramic dressing, the different depths of which allow for a “visual extension of the street” towards the interior, not only on the ground floor, but also on the two upper floors.

“A meeting of fabrics – l’unité flottante, inhabiting the Alexander”

The panel of judges described the project as: “the transformation and restoration of an old ship as a pilgrim hostel with an intervention that employs a patent of ceramic tissue, Flexbrick®. The contrast between solidity and lightness in the design is highly intriguing. And this suggestion is made clear in the drawings through which the idea is presented”.