420 Finalists Named for the 2015 EU – Mies Award

John Hill

17. December 2014

Winner of the 2013 Prize: Harpa - Reykjavik Concert Hall & Conference Centre, Batteríid Architects, Studio Olafur Eliasson, and Henning Larsen Architects (Photo: Nic Lehoux)

The European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe have announced the list of 420 projects from 36 countries competing for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award 2015.

The prestigious Award, which started in 1987 and is held every two years, carries a purse of 60,000€ and also includes a 20,000€ Emerging Architect Award and the inaugural Young Talent Architecture Prize that will recognize the best master degree projects from Europe. The 420 finalists for the EU – Mies Award were selected from 2,470 nominated works that were put forward by independent experts from all over Europe as well as by the member associations of the Architects’ Council of Europe, national architects’ associations, and the Advisory Committee of the Prize. A jury* is scheduled to select the shortlisted projects by the end of January 2015.

Word cloud of 36 countries with the numbers of finalists in each

The 420 finalists can be viewed on the miesarch.com website, in a sortable list and via an interactive map. In the announcement from the European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, they point out that "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." Next month World-Architects will highlight the finalist entries of W-A member firms.

*The 2015 Jury:

• Cino Zucchi (Chair of the Jury), Cino Zucchi Architetti
• Margarita Jover, aldayjover architecture and landscape
• Lene Tranberg, Lundgaard & Tranberg
• Peter L. Wilson, Bolles + Wilson
• Li Xiangning, Deputy Dean, College of Architecture & Urban Planning, Tongji University
• Tony Chapman (Representative of the Prize Steering Committee), Head of Awards at RIBA
• Hansjörg Mölk (Upholder of high quality architecture as a Client), CEO MPreis, Völs
• Giovanna Carnevali (Secretary of the Jury, without the right to vote), Director Fundació Mies van der Rohe
• Ivan Blasi (Coordinator of the Prize, without the right to vote), Architect