On July 15, 2019, the results of the Memorial Competition for the former Punta Carretas prison were announced. The first prize was awarded to the team led by Francisco Díaz, a professor and graduate of the architecture program, and architect Matías Beccar. The team’s collaborators included architects Sebastián Mengot Marta, Haygaz Sala, and Sebastián Devoto Firpo, who are also graduates of the architecture program at Universidad ORT Uruguay.
The competition focused on the project to be carried out on the plaza located in front of the main entrance to Punta Carretas Shopping, where the prison stood from 1915 to 1986. The memorial is intended as a tribute to the political prisoners who served their sentences there.
The competition was organized by the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Punta Carreteras Penal Memorial Commission, and Crysol. It was sponsored and supported by the Office of the President of the Republic, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Transportation and Public Works, the Ministry of Tourism, the Uruguayan National Commission for UNESCO, the Municipality of Montevideo, the Departmental Council of Montevideo, and the Uruguayan Society of Architects.