Leventhal City Prize 2025: Eume Energy Basin

Aerial photograph of As Pontes, showing the decommissioned power station in the foreground and new wind turbines on the surrounding hills.
Mouth of the Eume River, set within a peat landscape now dotted with windmills.
Proposed strategy for hyper-local energy production: solar rafts placed on the artificial lake formed in the former mining pit.
Year
2025
Strategic Priority
Energy Intersections

The 2025 Norman B. Leventhal City Prize has been awarded to Eume Energy Basin, a project that will create an integrated clean energy design plan for the Eume River Basin in northwestern Spain. As part of the Prize, the team will pilot three hyper-local wind, solar, and hydro-power projects in As Pontes, an area that has historically relied upon a now-retired coal plant. The project will be led by architect, urbanist, and LCAU affiliated faculty member Roi Salgueiro Barrio. In keeping with the mission of the LCAU, the Leventhal City Prize seeks to catalyze innovative urban design and planning approaches that will improve the environment and quality of life.

The Norman B. Leventhal City Prize was established in honor of Norman B. Leventhal ’38, the visionary developer and philanthropist whose contributions transformed Boston's urban landscape. His civic leadership drove Boston's urban revival, resulting in projects such as Rowes Wharf, Center Plaza, South Station, and One Post Office Square.

Project Team: Roi Salgueiro Barrio (MIT Department of Architecture), Aurora Armental (Estar), Stefano Ciurlo (Estar), Luis Díaz Díaz (photographer & civil engineer), Fundación RIA, Municipality of As Pontes, Provincial Administration of A Coruña

Learn more:

    — Leventhal City Prize Website

    — Article: Team led by MIT Architect Will Plan a Regional Energy Landscape     Along the Eume River Basin in Northwestern Spain.

    — Questions? Contact lcau@mit.edu

Year
2025