New Congress Centre in Elche

The Elche Congress Centre is conceived as a civic landmark positioned at the eastern edge of the historic Palmeral, acting as a mediator between landscape and city. The building occupies the perimeter of the site, creating a strong urban edge while opening a new public square to the northwest—an entrance plaza that connects pedestrian flows from the city, the university, and public transport. A shaded limestone plinth with Mediterranean arches anchors the project to the ground and generates a continuous public portico that extends the urban realm. Above this base, a ceramic lattice volume filters light and heat, reinterpreting traditional local craftsmanship as a contemporary climatic device. At its core, a glazed blue oval volume houses the stacked congress halls, forming the symbolic and spatial heart of the building. A helicoidal ascending foyer wraps around this central form, guiding visitors upward toward landscaped terraces overlooking the Palmeral. The project merges urban articulation, climatic intelligence, and tectonic clarity, establishing a new cultural node that activates its surroundings while remaining deeply rooted in Elche’s material and landscape identity.

Programme : Cultural, Congress centre
Location : Elche, Spain  
Client : Diputación de Alicante  
Architect : Jaime Batlle, Diana Carbonell, Davide Lorenzato, Ignacio Arizu
Local Architects : JSWD Architekten GmbH
Team : Laura Carlos, Cristina Zehe, Andrada Dumitriu, Luca Motca, Katarina Ratkovic
Dates : 2025
Surface : 13.000 m²  
Status : Competition