There are 420 European nominations for the 2015 Mies van de Rohe Award. Amongst these, there are nine Italians: the technopole in Reggio Emilia designed by Andrea Oliva, the MAST in Bologna by the Labics studio, the Bulgari winery in San Casciano dei Bagni by the Alvisi+Kirimoto studio, the new Scandicci centre by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and the DA Studio, the Antinori Winery by the Archea studio, social housing in via Cenni by the Rossiprodi Associati studio, a winery in Castiglione di Sicilia by the Albanese Architects studio, the psychiatric rehabilitation centre by Modus Architects in Bolzano, and the Expo Gate by the Scandurra Studio.
Some of the candidates from other countries were designed by Italian architects. Two buildings in Poland were made in Italy: The Gdansk Shakespeare Theatre by Renato Rizzi and the Szczecin Philharmonic Hall by the EBV Barozzi Veiga studio. The nominations also include the Fondation Seydoux Path in Paris designed by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop and the headquarters of the Bank of Albania by Petreschi Architects. In Belgium, with the Wadi Hostel in Hoge Rielen, the Secchi-Viganò associated studio is also competing for the Mies 2015. In France the Italian-French studio LAN Architecture is competing for the award with the residential Euarvenir Tower in Lille. Two nominated buildings in Germany are also partly made in Italy: the Bauhaus Masters’ Houses by Bruno Fioretti Marquez Architekten and Joseph Pschorr House by Kuehn Malvezzi.
The richest Country in the running for the most prestigious award in Europe is Spain with 35 works on the jury's table, second on the list is Germany with 27 buildings, France follows with 25, The Netherlands and Turkey both have 21 and the UK has 20. Iceland, Malta, Montenegro and Bosnia are also in the nominations with 3 buildings each.
Here are all the competing works: a rich map of new European architectural designs built in the last two years.
Looking at the numbers, 27% of the candidates are residential buildings, 24% are cultural structures, 11% are training and research centres, 5% are office buildings and the remaining 33% are sports centres, infrastructural works, public spaces and commercial buildings.
The president of the jury for the 2015 edition is an Italian: Cino Zucchi. He will preside over the commission assisted by Margarita Jover, Lene Transber, Peter L. Wilson, Li Xiagning, Tony Chapman and Hansjörg Mölk. The award will go to the work that most distinguished itself in Europe in the past two years. It should also draw attention to the important contribution of European professionals in the development of new concepts and technologies as well as in terms of the relationship between architects and clients. The designer of the best architectural work will receive a prize of sixty thousand euros. The 2015 edition of the Mies Van der Rohe award also includes a section for emerging architects (with a prize of twenty thousand euros) to help designers at the start of their careers. The award ceremony will take place on the 8th of May 2015.
