The two award-winning projects have been chosen from a list of 532 works from 279 in 41 European countries. After the first selection of 40 projects, 5 finalists were visited by the jury accompanied by the authors of the works, clients or promoters and users.
The 2022 Prize edition is the last edition under which the UK was eligible and therefore the Town House has been able to win. From now on, entities from the United Kingdom are not eligible since the United Kingdom signed on 1 February 2020 the withdrawal from the European Union.
2022 WINNER
→ Town House - Kingston University in London, UNITED KINGDOM
Architects.- Grafton Architects
Program: Education.
The 2022 Prize edition is the last edition under which the UK was eligible and therefore the Town House has been able to win. From now on, entities from the United Kingdom are not eligible since the United Kingdom signed on 1 February 2020 the withdrawal from the European Union.
2022 WINNER
→ Town House - Kingston University in London, UNITED KINGDOM
Architects.- Grafton Architects
Program: Education.
The client is Kingston University and it is rewarded for its remarkable environmental quality that creates an excellent atmosphere for studying, dancing, gathering and being together. The building creates an emotional experience from within and through the multi-level façade colonnade that creates a domestic atmosphere on different levels. It accommodates dance, library and study spaces using layers of silence and layers of sound which work perfectly well together. This is the first time that a university building wins the architecture prize and it shows that there is a need for public educational projects with the quality of this one, which dignifies people’s lives through education and being together and gives the same educational possibilities to everybody.
“Inspired by the progressive educational vision presented in the brief, and the wish to connect with the community, we responded by arranging the program in a three-dimensional matrix, one singular complex space that links the various elements of the brief, giving at the same time to each part its identity, a place where spaces and uses interlock, and connect physically or visually, creating an environment that encourages overlap and exchange.”
EMERGING ARCHITECTURE 2022
→ La Borda - Cooperative Housing in Barcelona, SPAIN
Architects.- Lacol. Arquitectura Cooperativa.
Program.- Collective housing.
This cooperative project is transgressive in its context because although housing production is mainly dominated by macroeconomic interests, in this case, the model is based on co-ownership and co-management of shared resources and capacities. The model goes beyond the specific project of cooperative housing: the studio is also run as a cooperative where fourteen professionals with different expertise offer a role model and an active tool for promoting political and urban change from within the system, based on social, ecological and economic sustainability.
“La Borda cooperative housing is a self-organized development to access decent, nonspeculative housing. The cooperative prioritised making a building with minimal environmental impact, both in its construction and its lifetime. Another basic objective is to eliminate the possibility of energy poverty among its users, which some of them suffered due to the high cost of energy. The initial strategy of the project to reduce energy demand has been the optimisation of the program, renouncing the underground car parking, grouping services and reducing the surface of the houses.”
On 12 May, the Awards Ceremony will take place at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona.
The jury was formed by Tatiana Bilbao, Francesca Ferguson, Mia Hägg, Triin Ojari, Georg Pendl, Spiros Pengas and Marcel Smets.
The €60,000 biennial prize, which is the most prestigious in European architecture, was launched in 1987 to highlight the contribution of European architects to the development of new ideas and technologies in contemporary urban development. It is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe.
The jury was formed by Tatiana Bilbao, Francesca Ferguson, Mia Hägg, Triin Ojari, Georg Pendl, Spiros Pengas and Marcel Smets.
The €60,000 biennial prize, which is the most prestigious in European architecture, was launched in 1987 to highlight the contribution of European architects to the development of new ideas and technologies in contemporary urban development. It is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe.
