S1-S3

Information on the interdisciplinary competition for S3 students combining architecture and Spanish

Espacios Increíbles

Espacios Increíbles is a national, inter-disciplinary competition that combines and celebrates Spanish language learning with aspects of design and technology.

Organised by SCILT, in partnership with the Department of Architecture based at the University of Strathclyde, the competition focuses on building valuable employability skills such as team-working, creativity, organisation, communication, problem-solving and many more. Espacios Increíbles aims to broaden learners' horizons and introduce them to potential career pathways in different fields, and not just the traditional teacher or translator. Read more about the Espacios Increíbles case study here.

Despite the challphoto of winning team from Holy Crossenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Espacios Increíbles 2 went ahead during 2020-21. S3 learners from Dunblane High, Holy Cross High, Kinross High and Prestwick Academy earned a well-deserved place at the final, and presented their designs in Spanish to a judging panel for the opportunity to win the ultimate competition prizes on offer. The final took place online on 19 May 2021 and the event concluded with the announcement of the winning school, Holy Cross High School. Congratulations!

This exciting and innovative competition has won much praise and is a great opportunity for your school to take part in something relevant and highly rewarding for your learners.

Scroll down to view video presentations and announcements from the final competition and don’t forget to look through the tabs below to get a flavour of how Espacios Increíbles could benefit your school and learners.

  • Inspired by the design-based television programme Amazing Spaces, BGE learners take part in the competition by designing their own “Espacio Increíble” for a location in a Spanish speaking country
  • The design must take into account the environment, climate, sustainability and socio-economic needs of the location as well as being creative and attractive
  • Open to S2 and S3 pupils, participants will carry out the design process, learn about the area of study and the Spanish required to present their final design to the judging panel, giving a rationale for the design and the various aspects of the project
  • Successful participants will then present their design in Spanish and pitch to a live audience, including a panel of judges, who will choose the winner at the grand final. If, due to current circumstances, a live event is not feasible, the proceedings will be streamed online
  • October 2021 – schools to register interest (by 8 November 2021)
  • 10 November 2021 – initial meeting with interested schools
  • November/December 2021 – schools to confirm participation and organise groups
  • January 2022 – schools to begin project
  • January-March 2022 – drop-in sessions will be made available for support
  • March 2022 – deadline for video entries
  • April 2022 – announcement of finalists
  • May 2022 – The Final!

  • The winning team of 2021 won the chance to have their design developed into a set of architectural drawings and a short 3D fly-through by staff and students of the University's Department of Architecture. As part of this process, the winning design team will attend a virtual consultation meeting with staff and Undergraduate students to discuss their design and the ideas and concepts behind it
  • The Espacios Increíbles Trophy
  • Each winning team member received an Amazon voucher worth £25 and was awarded with their very own Espacios Increíbles Winner certificate
  • Prizes for Year 3 will be announced in 2022
"Thanks for organising the event and for enabling us to join. It was really good to be able to support the youngsters, even virtually! Everyone put so much effort in and they put all of us adults to shame - the next generation are going to be fabulous. Really appreciated your help and all the teams' encouragement for the youngsters. Well done." 
Parent of finalist at Holy Cross High School
"Thank you for all your hard work to keep the project going ahead this year - the whole experience has been a boost for our department, and after yesterday's result, for our whole School Community too!" 
Teacher at Holy Cross High School

Feedback given to all teams on the day of the final:

"Excellent pronunciation and grammar throughout. There was use of very complex vocabulary at points and the judges sensed that the teams were using language that they knew, which was embedded into their learning and not just this project. There were some very bold and creative designs which portrayed a great sense of the needs of the user - you created some fun spaces for children to use. You were able to be self-reflective and understand the individual strengths of the team. Very smooth presentations throughout, clearly a lot of preparation and planning went into what we saw today."
Derek Hill, Course Director, Department of Architecture (part of the judging panel)

Lanarkshire secondary pupils win national Spanish competition (Daily Record, 30 May 2021)

Article about Espacios Increíbles available to download (TECLA magazine, August 2021)

Espacios Increíbles 2020-21 Final « Prev Next »

Twitter Highlights

Twitter logoWe had plenty of feedback and comments on Twitter from participants in Espacios Increíbles.
 

Tweets about #espaciosincreíbles

University of Strathclyde Education Scotland British Council Scotland The Scottish Government
SCILT - Scotlands National centre for Languages