Three British projects in running for European architecture prize

Three UK projects have been longlisted for the EU’s Mies van der Rohe Award for contemporary architecture.

They are among 40 schemes in 18 countries across Europe which are in the running for the prestigious prize.

Grafton Architects’ Town House for Kingston University – whichwon last year’s Stirling Prize– is joined on the list by Selgas Cano’s Second Home co-working space in Holland Park and Carmody Groarke’s Hill House box erected to protect Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Helensburgh house during its restoration.

David Chipperfield Architects is also a contender, in a nice moment of circularity, for its painstaking €100m refurbishment of Mies van der Rohe’ Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin.

入选名单的还有Dorte Mandrup设计的丹麦瓦登海洋中心，以及几个集体住宅的例子——名单上最具代表性的类型学——包括Einszueins Arkitektur设计的维也纳Gleis 21和Helen & Hard设计的斯塔万格Vindmollebakken。

Austria, France and Spain are the countries with the largest number of longlisted schemes – five apiece.

The jury, chaired by Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao, drew up the longlist from 532 possible works.

The shortlist – expected to feature five projects – will be announced on February 16, with the winner named at a ceremony held in May at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona.

>> From the archve:Technical Study: Hill House, Helensburgh, by Carmody Groarke

>> Also read:Building Study: Town House, Kingston University, by Grafton Architects

>> Also read:Technical: Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, restored by David Chipperfield Architects

Triin Ojari, a judge and director of the Estonian Museum of Architecture, said: “As a society we should be more and more interested in architecture because it affects our everyday life in a global way. Covid-19 has emphasised the importance of the quality of our living environment, the importance of planning where we live, the indoor and outdoor spaces; because we spend a lot of time in the private space.”

Mariya Gabriel, the EU commissioner for innovation, research, culture, education and youth, added: “Rethinking the way we are building is a must. High-quality architecture is a cornerstone of the European Commission’s approach to sustainability. In redefining European architects’ role as caregivers, architecture contributes to the European Green Deal and its cultural component: the New European Bauhaus.”

Town House, a new building at the entrance to Kingston University’s campus containing a library, event space, dance studios and music rooms, was Grafton’s first UK project. Stirling judge Norman Foster dubbed it “a theatre for life – a warehouse of ideas”.

Carmody Groarke’s transparent protective structure built around Mackintosh’s Hill Househas been designed to allow the building to be seen while conservation teams attempt to solve the damp problems that have dogged it from the day it was completed in 1904.

这座房子位于格拉斯哥西北部的海伦斯堡，是为出版商沃尔特·布莱基(Walter Blackie)建造的，它被认为是苏格兰最重要的建筑之一，融合了艺术和工艺、苏格兰男爵主义、日本主义和新艺术。

Selgas Cano’s latest project for coworking providers Second Home has turned five small warehouse buildings in west London into 1,000sq m of workspace flooded with light, colour and greenery, and 200 desks. The courtyard has been covered by an ETFE and PVC glass roof which uses soap bubbles as insulation.

The site has a rich history, featuring in films and being used by Richard Rogers as his very first studio after he won the Pompidou Centre competition. A vine he is said to have planted is still there today.

The other arguably British entry on the longlist isDavid Chipperfield Architects’ renovation of Mies’ Berlin masterpiece the Neue Nationalgalerie,widely considered one of the 20^thcentury’s most important buildings.

这是密斯的最后一个作品，也是他移民美国后的唯一一个欧洲项目，它设计和建造于1965年至1968年，为新分裂的国家西柏林的艺术收藏提供一个艺术画廊。