420 ARCHITECTURAL WORKS COMPETE FOR MIES VAN DER ROHE AWARD 2015

The Jury composition also includes a change: a Client who has supported high quality architecture will participate. Hansjörg Mölk, CEO of MPreis, has commissioned many supermarket buildings in Austria to local and European architects. Some of these have been shortlisted in previous editions of the Prize such as the Wenns supermarket by Rainer Köberl and Astrid Tschapeller and the Wattens supermarket by Dominique Perrault.

Works nominated for the Prize are put forward by independent experts from all over Europe, [one of them, José Juan Barba, METALOCUS editor in chief] as well as by the member associations of the Architects’ Council of Europe, national architects’ associations, and the Advisory Committee of the Prize.

35 projects are shortlist in Spain.-

7 works have been constructed out of Spain by Spanish studies.-

27% of the proposals deal with Housing while 24% are Cultural facilities. 11% are connected to Education, 5% to Offices and the other 33% include mostly Sport, Commercial, Governmental, Transport and Urban typologies.

Initiated in 1987 after an agreement between the European Commission and the Barcelona City Hall, the 60.000€ prize is the highest award in European architecture and is awarded biennially to works completed within the previous two years. The principal objectives are to recognise and commend excellence in the field of architecture and to draw attention to the important contribution of European professionals in the development of new ideas and technologies and of the clients who support them.

-  The Emerging Architect Award consists of 20.000€, which is granted to professionals starting out on their careers.

- The 2015 edition of the Prize presents a novelty, the Young Talent Architecture Prize (YTAP) which will recognise the best master degree projects from Europe. Their authors will have the opportunity to establish a network with the Winner, the Finalists and the Emerging Architect of the Prize while taking their first steps in the professional world.

Previous winners include:

Harpa - Reykjavik Concert Hall & Conference Centre; Reykjavik, by Peer Henning Larsen Architects / Teglgaard Jeppesen, Osbjørn Jacobsen; Studio Olafur Eliasson / Olafur Eliasson; Batteríid architects / Sigurður Einarsson
Neues Museum, Berlin, by David Chipperfield Architects / David Chipperfield, in collaboration with Julian Harrap
Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, Oslo, by SNØHETTA / Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, Tarald Lundevall, Craig Dykers
Netherlands Embassy Berlin, Berlin, by OMA / Rem Koolhaas, Ellen van Loon
Kursaal Centre, San Sebastian, by Rafael Moneo
Car Park and Terminus Hoenheim North, Strasbourg, by Zaha Hadid Architects / Zaha Hadid
Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz by Peter Zumthor
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, by Dominique Perrault
Stansted Airport, London, by Norman Foster + Partners / Norman Foster
Banco Borges e Irmão, Vila do Conde, by Álvaro Siza Vieira

The complete list of 420 works can be downloaded by clicking on the countries below:
Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, FYROM, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, Turkey, United Kingdom.

The members who will select the 2015 shortlisted and finalist works by the end of January 2015 will be:

Practicing Architects
Cino Zucchi, Chair of the Jury
Principle, Cino Zucchi Architetti, Milan
Margarita Jover
Principle, aldayjover architecture and landscape, Charlottesville and Barcelona
Lene Tranberg
Principle, Lundgaard & Tranberg, Copenhagen
Peter L. Wilson
Principle, Bolles + Wilson, Münster

Architecture Critic
Li Xiangning. Deputy Dean, College of Architecture & Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai

Architecture Critic and Representative of the Prize Steering Committee
Tony Chapman, Head of Awards at RIBA, London

Upholder of high quality architecture as a Client
Hansjörg Mölk, CEO MPreis, Völs, Tirol

Secretary of the Jury (without the right to vote)
Giovanna Carnevali, Director Fundació Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona.

Coordinator of the Prize (without the right to vote)
Ivan Blasi, Architect

Objectives of the Prize
Architecture brings a significant contribution to a sustainable European economy and also to European cultural and social life, since it influences to a great extent the way people live, work and spend their leisure time, as well as their quality of life, even if awareness of this is not always high among the public.

The aim of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture is to highlight recent, excellent examples of architectural creativity of works which are less than two years old and to underline that modern architecture is socially and culturally rooted in European cities and is important to people's everyday lives.