The Jury of the Prize highlights the importance of architecture that delves into the possibility of changing mindsets and policies and the relevance of inclusiveness. The two awarded projects have been chosen from a list of 532 works from 41 countries. On 12 May, the Awards Ceremony will take place at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona.
At a press conference held in Brussels, Mr. Tamás Szűcs, Director of Culture and Creativity – Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture of the European Union, announced the Winners of the 2022 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture | Mies van der Rohe Awards.
The 2022 Winner of the Architecture Prize is Grafton Architects, Dublin forthe Town House – Kingston University, London
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.
The 2022 Winner of the Emerging Architecture Prize is the La Borda cooperative housing by Lacol in Barcelona
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. Source and images Courtesy of Mies van der Rohe Awards.
