Instituto Balear de la Vivienda (IBAVI)
The Balearic Social Housing institute (IBAVI) has been building and operating low-cost housing in the Balearic Islands since 1986. Around 1800 rental apartments already exist, and 900 more are now being built according to the principles of the EU- funded Life Reusing Posidonia programme, which promotes the use of regional building materials with a low carbon footprint, such as seaweed, limestone, clay bricks, and timber. In 2019, the first housing units built under the programme in Sant Ferran de ses Roques on Formentera made it onto the Mies van der Rohe Award shortlist. In 2021, the EU Commission presented Life Re- using Positionia with the Life Award for best environmental project.
For most of its buildings, IBAVI commissions independent architectural firms – such as leading Spanish architecture firms HArquitectes, TEd’A, Peris + Toral, DataAE, and López- Rivera. But IBAVI’s in-house architecture team also designs buildings, like the apartments in Palma’s Calle Salvador Espriu and in the San Gotleu districts – the latter of which was nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award 2022.
