Female members of Lacol are winners of the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture

The Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture recognizes designers under the age of 45 for their achievement in professional practice. 

This year's prizes have been awarded to six female architects who are part of the architecture practice, Lacol. Members Ariadna Artigas, Anna Clemente, Eulàlia Daví, Cristina Gamboa, Laura Lluch, and Núria Vila were praised by this year's jury for their housing projects La Borda, Coòpolis, and co-operative complex La Comunal. 

The judges for this year's prize share: "They expand beyond the horizons of forms and materials, they take architecture out of the traditional client-user commissioning relationship by politicizing it – and it is remarkably effective. This alternative model of practice creates a collaborative bridge between communities and administrations. The possibilities this model heralds are fascinating and it is exciting to imagine that it could be extended to and replicated in other contexts."

The women from Lacol were one of 5 shortlisted nominees for the prize. Below is the full list of shortlisted architects.

• Winner: Ariadna Artigas, Anna Clemente, Eulàlia Daví, Cristina Gamboa, Laura Lluch, and Núria Vila, co-founders of Lacol, based in Barcelona, Spain
• Nerea Amorós Elorduy, founder of Creative Assemblages, based in Uganda
• Cristina Monteiro, co-founder of DK-CM, based in the UK
• Verónica Villate, co-founder of Mínimo Común Arquitectura, based in Paraguay

To learn more about the W Awards click here.