HouseEurope!, a registered non-profit organization focused on promoting the social and ecological transformation of Europe's built environment, has received the 2025 OBEL Award. Presented annually by the Henrik Frode Obel Foundation, the award recognizes architectural contributions with the potential to drive meaningful change. Aligned with this year's theme, "Ready Made," the OBEL Award Jury selected HouseEurope! for its efforts in raising awareness and fostering public engagement around the need for a shift in construction and housing practices across Europe.
On 19 June 2025, the exhibition will expand to include models of the three winning proposals, which will be announced during the EUmies Awards Day 2025 at Palazzo Michiel in Venice. This event will also unveil the winners of the Young Talent Open, which extends the awards' reach beyond the Creative Europe countries to include participants from the Council of Europe member states and the Asia-Pacific region. All selected works will be documented in a publication and incorporated into the EUmies Awards Archive, contributing to a growing repository of architectural experimentation and discourse.
HouseEurope! is the European Citizens' Initiative advocating for EU legislation to simplify, reduce the cost of, and make more socially equitable the renovation and reuse of existing buildings, has officially begun its signature gathering period. The initiative aims to curb demolition driven by speculation and foster a construction industry that prioritizes the potential of existing public and private buildings. As a tool of direct democracy, European Citizens' Initiatives allow citizens to propose legislation at the EU level. For the legislation to be officially considered and implemented by the European Commission and EU member states, it requires the support of 1 million European citizens from at least seven EU countries. The initiative opened for signatures on February 1st, 2025 and will remain open until January 31st, 2026.
EUROPARC, a pan-European design collective, has been announced as the winners of the international competition to renew the Paul Henri SPAAK Building in Brussels, Belgium. The building housing the Parliament of the European Union has many shortcomings, yet the winners of the competition recognize that demolishing and replacing it might not be a responsible or sustainable solution. The existing building is, therefore, reimagined and adapted better to fit the needs and the identity of the EU. EUROPARC is made up of five architectural studios from five European countries: JDS Architects (DK/BE), Coldefy (FR), CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati (IT), NL Architects (NL), and Ensamble Studio (SP), with the support of engineering companies from UTIL (BE) and Ramboll (DK).
The European design team integrated by architectural firms JDS Architects, Coldefy, Carlo Ratti Associati, NL Architects, and Ensamble Studio has been announced as the winner of the international design competition for the renewal of the Paul-Henri SPAAK Building, the European Parliament plenary building in Brussels, Belgium.
The European Commission and the Mies van der Rohe Foundation have announced the 7 finalists that will compete for the 2022 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award. The finalists include 5 projects in the Architecture category and 2 in the Emerging Architecture category, all of which "encourage and become models and references for local city policies". The winners will be announced in April 2022 and the Award ceremony will take place in May 2022.
Focused on 3 main titles, "the European city: a model for the sustainable smart city", "defining common European culture while reflecting the diversity of expression" and "an architecture that has social impact and transmits a cultural message", we have grouped the selected projects, nominated by a jury formed by Tatiana Bilbao, Francesca Ferguson, Mia Hägg, Triin Ojari, Georg Pendl, Spiros Pengas and Marcel Smets to give a better understanding of the selection criteria and the architectural situation in Europe.
Early last week, the European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe announced the 40 shortlisted projects of the EU Mies Award, a prize that commends excellence in architecture, highlighting its contribution to sustainable development. In this context, and two years after the European Parliament voted to support the Green Deal, we review the steps taken by the EU in 2021 towards achieving its sustainability goals and shaping a resilient built environment.
In December, the European Commission adopted several proposals that put the transport sector on track for a 90% reduction in carbon emissions, moving a step further in implementing the European Green Deal. The initiatives seek to increase rail transport, encouraging long-distance and cross-border rail travel, support the roll-out of charging points for electric vehicles and alternative refuelling infrastructure and further develop multimodality.
This week's curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights designs submitted by established architecture practices, featuring conceptual works, competition entries and projects in different stages of development. From a pollinator park designed for an EU initiative to a greenhouse residential project in Germany, to a museum in the Arctics or an innovative proposal for harvesting renewable energy in the Netherlands, the following showcases a variety of design approaches, programs and scales.
Featuring firms like Vincent Callebaut Architectures, 10 Design, Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel, or Sweco, this week's selection of unbuilt projects highlights worldwide interventions that illustrate a variety of ideas, from new models for collective housing and community-living, to design for ecology and sustainability, to community-oriented cultural architecture.
EU Pavilion, a research practice exploring the relationship between architecture and European institutions, presents eight proposals for the first European Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. European architectural and artistic practices were invited by curators Anna Livia Friel, Marco Provinciali, Benjamin Gallegos Gabilondo, Nicolò Ornaghi and Francesco Zorzi to reimagine the national pavilion, the defining spatial and symbolic paradigm of the Biennale. The speculative project aims to explore architecture’s potential in supporting the European project and helping define the identity of this culturally diverse transnational organization.
Following the recent evolution of the climate crisis, policymakers and private companies are getting behind the transition towards clean energy. California is set to mandate solar panels and battery storage for new buildings in a move towards establishing a 100% clean energy grid, while across the US, public schools are redesigned to operate on green energy. In Europe, the EU launched a call to establish an offshore renewable energies working group that would help define the framework for reaching the EU’s ambition of at least 300 GW of offshore wind and 40 GW of ocean energies by 2050. At the same time, furniture manufacturer IKEA announced it would start selling renewable energy to Swedish households.
Recent extreme weather events and the acceleration of climate change, paired with decarbonization efforts that are not on track, make climate-related disruption unavoidable for urban environments, raising the issue of climate-risk adaptation. Moving past what can be done to prevent climate change, there is a strong imperative to develop strategies to prepare urban environments to cope with inevitable challenges such as sea-level rise, floods, water scarcity or extreme heat. The following discusses how cities can build resilience and adapt to undergoing and expected future climate threats.
Last September, the EU launched the New European Bauhaus, an initiative designed to transform the built environment into a more sustainable one with higher social value. The project, shaped through an unprecedented co-design process, is now calling for architects, students, specialists, and citizens to share ideas, examples and challenges to help define the movement's concrete steps.
Central London. Image Courtesy of CPAT / Hayes Davidson / Jason Hawkes
The Architects Registration Board, which is responsible for the licensing and registration of architects in the United Kingdom, has announced that UK architects no longer have an automatic recognition of their qualifications in EU countries following the country’s exit from the Union. This decision signifies that architects who wish to pursue their career in the Union’s 27 countries, are obliged to present compliance certificates and specific documentation to relevant authorities in each country.
The European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture, the Mies van der Rohe Award has just announced the first 449 works competing in its 2022 edition. Selected from 279 cities in 41 countries, the projects have been nominated by European independent experts, the national architecture associations, and the Prize Advisory Committee.
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.jpg?1650972181 "La Borda - Cooperative Housing by Lacol / Spain. Image © Lluc Miralles")
