Architecture for Ritual: CENTRAL and Maxime Delvaux at the Concéntrico Festival

For one week, Logroño’s Plaza del Mercado gradually changes its appearance. At the foot of the Co-Cathedral of Santa María de la Redonda, a dune of sand emerges in the heart of the city. Initially a simple transformation of the urban landscape, it slowly becomes a place for play, encounter and gathering, culminating in its activation during the celebrations of St John’s Eve.

Presented as part of the international Concéntrico 2026 festival, Architecture for Ritual is the result of a collaboration between the Brussels-based office CENTRAL Office for Architecture and Urbanism and photographer Maxime Delvaux.

Observing the city to imagine a ritual

The project originates from a shared investigation into the architecture and built environment of Logroño. Drawing on a typological reading of the city, CENTRAL and Maxime Delvaux conceived an intervention that is simultaneously architectural, landscape-based and symbolic.

A sand dune, bounded by a low wall tracing the footprint of the city’s former fortifications, temporarily transforms the square into an urban beach open to all. The installation alters the everyday uses of public space and invites both residents and visitors to inhabit it differently.

More than an architectural object, the project proposes a framework for collective experience.

An architecture that unfolds over time

At the centre of the installation, a wooden mast gradually emerges day after day. Clad in the colours of Logroño, it receives messages and intentions left by visitors, becoming the support for a shared ritual.

This temporal dimension lies at the heart of the project. The installation is conceived not as a fixed form, but as a process that is collectively constructed until the night of St John’s Eve.

At that moment, a vast carpet of sand will protect the square’s surface while the mast, like a chimney, becomes the anchor point for the ritual fire. Architecture then recedes behind the event it makes possible.

Between architecture, photography and collective memory

For several years, CENTRAL and Maxime Delvaux have developed a collaboration in which architecture and photography mutually enrich one another. Here again, the project is conceived both as an architectural structure and as a device for viewing and observation.

The installation explores how places generate collective narratives and how an ephemeral event can leave a lasting imprint on the memory of a city.

With Architecture for Ritual, the authors reflect on the role of public space as a place of celebration, transmission and coexistence. By reactivating a local tradition through a minimal intervention, the project reminds us that architecture is not limited to built form: it can also provide the framework for shared experiences and new ways of inhabiting the city, even if only temporarily.