Denmark’s Kannikegården Culture and Religious Centre by Lundgaard & Tranberg Architects, Ely Court in UK by Alison Brooks Architects, Amsterdam’s monumental deFlat Kleiburg apartment by NL Architects and XVW architectuur, Rudy Ricciotti’s dramatic Rivesaltes Memorial in France and BBGK Architekci’s hidden and poetic Katyn Museum in Poland named as the 5 finalists competing for the 2017 Mies van der Rohe Award.

The international jury will visit the 5 works in April. The Prize Winner and the Emerging Architect Winner will be announced in Brussels on May 16. 

Rudy Ricciotti’s dramatic Rivesaltes Memorial in France. Image © Kevin Dolmaire

The Award Ceremony will take place on 26 May 2017 at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona. Save the date for the lectures, debates, exhibition opening and celebration that will take place with the Jury members, Winners, Finalists and other guests and representatives.

Stephen Bates, architect and Chairman of the Jury declared: ''Our instincts could be summed up by the words of Peter Smithson: ‘things need to be ordinary and heroic at the same time’. We were looking for an ordinariness whose understated lyricism is full of potential.''

Denmark’s Kannikegården Culture and Religious Centre by Lundgaard & Tranberg Architects. Image © Anders Sune Berg

''Social housing, memory and the problem of context and new constructions in the old city centres have proven to be important to us as a Jury. The finalist works show the problematic of our time; what has happened in the last year reveals the really deep problem of populism and the lack of memory. These 5 projects show the problem that we face as citizens, not only as architecture specialists, but as members of today’s society,'' highlighted Malgorzata Omilanowska, art historian, former Minister of Culture in Poland and member of the Jury.

Interior of Denmark’s Kannikegården Culture and Religious Centre by Lundgaard & Tranberg Architects. Image © Anders Sune Berg

''The Jury’s selection consolidates the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award as a strategic element by which to promote research into, debate on and dissemination of contemporary architecture in Europe,'' added Anna Ramos, Director of the Fundació Mies van der Rohe.

Issues such as collective housing, the complexity of the European city – both contemporary and historical – and the ability of architecture to create symbolic spaces provide us with the opportunity to extend the debate on the finalist works beyond architectural circuits, because they respond to the concerns of today’s European society,'' added Anna Ramos.

Ely Court in UK by Alison Brooks Architects. Image © Paul Riddle

Today the 5 Finalist works will be presented in Ljubljana by Anna Ramos, Hughes Becquart - Policy Officer at the European Comission, DG Education and Culture - and Matevz Celik, Director of the Museum of Architecture and Design, MAO. 

This event will take place at the opening of the Future Architecture Platform Conference organized by MAO and supported by the Creative Europe program of the European Commission. Anna Ramos will present the ATLAS featuring the panorama of all the previous editions of the EU Mies Award.

Ely Court in UK by Alison Brooks Architects. Image © Paul Riddle

One of the novelties this year is that between 20 and 28 May, the 4 Finalist works, the Winner and the Emerging Architect buildings will be open to the public to visit and know in situ the works, the architects and other people involved in the organization of the Prize.

Another novelty is that the Award Ceremony at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion on May 26, will be organized in the context of a series of debates and conferences, oriented to all audiences. There will also be the presentation of the publication with all the nominated projects for the 2017 Prize, the exhibition and an evening celebration open to everybody.

Amsterdam’s monumental deFlat Kleiburg apartment by NL Architects and XVW architecture. Image © Marcel van der Brug

355 works were nominated for the award and an expert Jury decided the final shortlist, reducing them 40 -Best Contemporary Projects of the Europe. The 7 members of the Jury including Stephen Bates, Gonçalo Byrne, Peter Cachola Schmal, Pelin Derviş, Dominique Jakob, Juulia Kauste and Malgorzata Omilanowska – have chosen 40 works which highlight the opportunities and the trends of today’s European territory: cities, housing, heritage and memory.

Amsterdam’s monumental deFlat Kleiburg apartment by NL Architects and XVW architecture. Image © Marcel van der Brug

The prestigious prize is awarded biennially to works completed within the previous two years. The principal objectives are to achieve a thorough understanding of the transformation of Europe’s built environment; to recognize and commend excellence and innovation in the field of architecture (in conceptual and construction terms) and to draw attention to the important contribution of European professionals in the development of new ideas, the clients who support them and the citizens that enjoy them.

BBGK Architekci’s hidden and poetic Katyn Museum in Poland. Image © Juliusz Sokolowski

The EU Mies Award recorded that in the last years, the number of emerging practices and young architects has increased in an exponential way. A fourth of the shortlisted works have been built by teams who are either under 40 years of age or their offices are not more than 10 years old. 

From the 40 works, 24 are built in city centres (60%), 9 in natural environments (23%) and 7 in city peripheries (17%). 

BBGK Architekci’s hidden and poetic Katyn Museum in Poland. Image courtesy of BBGK Architekci

Furthermore, the Jury members underlined that the group of 40 exceptional works show a decrease in iconic architecture projects. They also highlighted the mix of uses of the works and the prevalence of Housing projects (14) and Cultural facilities (11). Education, accommodation, industry, sport, offices, landscape, mixed-use and social welfare are also present.

The Winner and Emerging Winner in mid-May. The Award Ceremony will take place on 26 May 2017 at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona.

In Barcelona, an exhibition with the 355 nominated works can already be visited at the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB).

Top image: Rudy Ricciotti’s dramatic Rivesaltes Memorial in France. Image © Kevin Dolmaire

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