GARBIZU COLLAR + BeAr will design the Guest Lounge at ARCOmadrid 2027

Download images of the project here

Following the call for entries launched by ARCO in conjunction with the Leading Brands of Spain Forum (FMRE) and AD magazine, the jury* has selected the project LENGUAJE. Un jardín de fragmentos, presented by these architects.

GARBIZU COLLAR + BeAr are proposing to transform the ARCOmadrid Guest Lounge into a garden of architectural forms, objects and places for encounters. A landscape constructed from familiar elements that, when brought together, create an unexpected setting in which the classical and the contemporary, the monumental and the domestic coexist.

The project is organised around a chequerboard pattern that runs across the floors and walls, linking the different rooms and creating distinct atmospheres. Against this backdrop, small architectural features evoking familiar places appear, ranging from a palace built from rolls of carpet to areas designed for meeting, relaxing and dining, which are intended to encourage conversation and interaction.

As the designers explain, “We want to celebrate the joy of creating architecture with the simplest elements: geometry, proportion, colour, light, and the materials at our disposal. With LENGUAJE, we want to demonstrate that inventing something new is not always necessary to achieve something unexpected”.

The proposal is constructed using materials commonly found in exhibition spaces, such as carpet and wooden panels. These materials are given new functions temporarily to create a space of great expressive power through simple processes of arrangement, repetition and assembly. The system also allows all the components to be reclaimed at the end of the fair and reused.

“We envisage the Guest Lounge as a garden of fragments, a small palace built from ordinary materials found at the fair which, for a few days, are transformed into something extraordinary. A place that celebrates artifice, ornament and, above all, the ability of architecture to foster encounters”, say the architects.

Beyond its spatial layout, LANGUAGE conceives of architecture as a setting for interactions and experiences that give meaning to an art fair - a place to meet, chat, relax, celebrate, observe and be observed.

At the end of ARCOmadrid, the space will be dismantled and its materials restored to their original state, ready for their next use. “We like to think that, when the fair is over, the palace will become carpet again and the materials will continue their life elsewhere. Because perhaps the most important thing about architecture is not how long it lasts, but what it makes possible while it exists”.

*Jury

Santiago Alfonso, vice-president of Institutional Relations and Corporate Reputation at Cosentino, Gonzalo Cabrera, director of ARCOmadrid, Pedro Maisterra, member of the ARCOmadrid Organising Committee, Maite Sebastiá, editor of AD magazine, Pablo Sequero, from the winning project for the ARCOmadrid 2026 Guest Lounge, and Pedro Vargas, director of International Projects at the Leading Brands of Spain Forum. 

About the architects

GARBIZU COLLAR is a Spanish-Swiss architecture practice founded by Jon Garbizu Etxaide (Donostia-San Sebastián, 1988) and Victoria Collar Ocampo (Zaragoza, 1988), with offices in Madrid and Basel. The practice’s work spans architecture, design, research and curation, exploring the relationships between material, culture and territory. Their work ranges from permanent architecture to temporary installations and exhibition spaces, with a particular focus on the transformation of existing structures and the use of materials. Notable among their projects are TERROIR (Concéntrico, 2026), LIMINA (Chillida Leku, 2025) and ICICLE (Paris, 2025). The practice has received two awards in the Ephemeral Interventions category: the FAD Award and the 2026 Casa de la Arquitectura Award for LIMINA, as well as two second prizes at Europan 16 and 17. Both Jon and Victoria graduated from the ETSAB in Barcelona and went on to build their careers at firms such as Herzog & de Meuron and Buchner Bründler Architekten. They currently combine their professional practice with teaching at ETH Zurich: Jon Garbizu in Roger Boltshauser’s professorship and Victoria Collar in Débora Mesa’s professorship.

BeAr is an architecture practice founded by Ane Arce (Bilbao, 1989) and Iñigo Berasategui (Bilbao, 1988) and based in Bilbao. The practice's work spans architecture, research and teaching, with a particular focus on the transformation of existing structures and experimentation with materials and construction methods. Their work ranges from housing and cultural facilities to public spaces and curatorial research, exploring architecture as a critical and discursive practice. Notable projects include Zubitegi Park in Mallabia, Nahinuena House in Gorliz, and Ailarak, Museum of Landscape and Music in Artea. The practice won the 2019 Peña Ganchegui Award for Young Basque Architecture, the 2025 COAVN Award for Nahinuena, and the 2026 arquia/próxima Award for Ailarak. They were also shortlisted for the 2025 FAD Awards for Nahinuena and were nominated for the 2026 Mies van der Rohe Award for Zubitegi Park. Ane Arce was named among the Europe 40 Under 40 2024-25 honourees. Her work has been featured in monographs published by AMAG and Libria, and has appeared in international magazines such as Casabella, Arquitectura Viva, GA Houses and PLOT. Both architects trained at the Higher Technical School of Architecture at the University of Navarre, where they currently teach while continuing to practise professionally. They have also given lectures and taught at international institutions such as Syracuse University, Cornell, ETSAM, Porto Academy and HEAD–Genève.

About the Leading Brands of Spain Forum (FMRE)

Founded in 1999, the Leading Brands of Spain Forum (FMRE) is a public-private alliance made up of more than 150 Spanish companies with leading brands in their respective sectors together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, the Secretary of State for Trade, ICEX Spain Trade and Investment, the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (OEPM), the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, Turespaña and the Secretary of State for Tourism. Its aim is to promote the strategic importance of branding, innovation and design at all levels and to foster the internationalisation of companies as a key lever for improving the competitiveness of the Spanish economy, thus helping to boost the image of Spain and its companies as a whole through the combined efforts of leading Spanish brands and the relevant public administrations.