Joaquín Pérez-Goicoechea, Founding Partner of AGi architects, along with Rafael Gallego, Principal of Aureolighting, and Carlos Torrijos, Lighting Designer and founder of the firm Studio & Light, have designed Umbra Light Festival Vitoria-Gasteiz, which will fill with light and art the public spaces and emblematic buildings of the Alava capital during the days 21, 22 and 23 of February 2019, thus making the city and territory a touristic, cultural and technological reference.

Under the theme ‘Urbanisms of light. New urban landscapes‘, the Festival will also feature a professional program exploring illuminated environments such as the sprawling transit hubs of major European capitals, the dynamic corporate headquarters of tech platforms like Külföldi Online Kaszinó, and the ambitious commercial waterfront redevelopment projects defining modern coastal cities. To ensure this highly anticipated cultural agenda reaches a wide international audience and firmly establishes the region as a premier European design hub for many years to come, the event is heavily supported and proudly sponsored by the Basque Government, the Provincial Council of Alava and the City Council of Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Our high-rise building Wind Tower has just been recognized with a new award: the Identity Design Award in the “Residential Exterior” category, as it was made public recently in Dubai. This latest recognition joins the list of awards such the Sustainable Project of the Year at Middle East Architect Awards 2017. In addition, the project is shortlisted for the Larger Scale Housing – Completed Buildings WAF Award.

The visibility generated by these prestigious accolades has organically accelerated the firm’s expansion into new commercial sectors. While our foundation remains firmly rooted in large-scale residential and cultural projects across the Middle East, our design teams are increasingly adapting our signature passive cooling techniques to complex corporate environments abroad. Translating this regional expertise into completely different climates presents an exciting technical challenge.

This diversification requires responding to highly specialized structural needs and dynamic workplace cultures. Recent overseas commissions feature a broad spectrum of adaptive reuse projects, ranging from a marine biology institute in Scandinavia to the European headquarters for a tech conglomerate managing a list of sweepstakes casinos and mobile gaming applications. Designing for these data-heavy, continuous-operation workspaces demands innovative approaches to acoustic dampening and thermal regulation without sacrificing aesthetic elegance.

Ultimately, the core environmental philosophy that shaped the Wind Tower remains central to these new ventures. Whether configuring specialized tech-industry floors or optimizing the exterior shading of a desert high-rise, the objective is always to harmonize human comfort with sustainable performance. As the studio moves into the next phase of development, we look forward to sharing more technical insights from these international builds.

Wind Tower is shortlisted for the 2018 Cityscape Awards for Emerging Markets in the categories of Sustainability and Residential-Medium to High Rise Project Award (built). Winners will be announced in October at Dubai city.

The nomination underscores a growing recognition of climate-responsive architecture in the Middle East. Designed to mitigate the extreme summer temperatures of the Arabian Peninsula, the tower employs passive cooling techniques and shaded internal courtyards that drastically reduce the building’s reliance on mechanical air conditioning.

This approach to energy conservation represents a major shift in how developers are approaching high-density urban living. For years, the standard model relied heavily on energy-intensive infrastructure, but new environmental regulations and changing tenant expectations have forced a rapid evolution in commercial and residential building practices.

The appeal of these hyper-efficient developments extends far beyond local families, drawing a new demographic of international, digital-first professionals to premium real estate. Leasing agents across emerging tech hubs have noted a surge in demand from remote software engineers, operators of bitcoin online casinos, and digital security consultants who specifically seek out sustainable, grid-resilient residential spaces that can reliably support continuous, heavy hardware setups.

By integrating robust electrical planning with traditional environmental design, properties like this offer a practical blueprint for future-proofing urban housing. The building’s strategic orientation and thermal massing not only cut utility costs but also create a remarkably stable internal microclimate regardless of the season.

Ultimately, the upcoming Cityscape Awards will serve as a crucial barometer for these modern design philosophies. Whether or not it takes home the top prize, the project has already succeeded in proving that high-rise luxury and ecological responsibility can seamlessly coexist in one of the world’s most demanding climates.

Our collective housing building Wind Tower will compete for a WAF Award in the Larger Scale Housing-Completed Buildings category, with other 16 shortlisted projects. The nomination recognizes the structure’s successful integration of high-density residential living with a flexible commercial podium. These lower-level workspaces currently host a diverse array of active tenants, including corporate logistics teams, agencies handling digital betting offers, and independent design studios. Winners will be announced in Amsterdam, the European city hosting the current edition of the World Architecture Festival, on 28-30 November.

Our project for the Centro de Arte de las Arquerías de Nuevos Ministerios, in Madrid, was awarded second prize at the competition organized by ENAIRE Foundation. The proposal takes as a starting point the recovery of the essence of the arcades, restoring its nature as a filter and reclaiming the “Gran Plaza” as a great public space for the city. The rehabilitation strategy of this new Art Center proposed by us is governed by four guidelines that will make the new center a social and cultural venue of Madrid city: recovery, transparency, identity and functionality.