Fundació Mies van der Rohe: The Latest Architecture and News

2019 is a special year for the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, with three dates coinciding very closely: the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus, the 50th anniversary of Mies van der Rohe´s death, and the 90th anniversary of the inauguration of the German Pavilion. This year is also the 16th edition of the Prize for Contemporary Architecture of the European Union - Mies van der Rohe Award. Each of these dates will be reflected in this year's program.

The Fundació Mies van der Rohe and European Commission have revealed the 383 projects nominated for the 2019 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award. The projects, which hail from 38 countries across the European Continent represent a wide range of typologies and office types. Of the countries included, the most projects come are located in Spain and Belgium (27 and 21 nominees, respectively.) London, home to 12 nominees, boasts the most nominated projects of any single city followed by Vilnius (9) and Paris (8).

It would be hard to associate zen philosophy with Mies van der Rohe, even harder to associate it with the German Pavilion in Barcelona. Nevertheless, the latest work by American artist Spencer Finch, Fifteen stones (Ryōan-ji), precisely establishes that connection with the iconic pavilion.

Spencer Finch was the latest artist invited to intervene the Fundació's pavilion. With the aim of "provok[ing] new looks and reflections through [his] intervention in the Pavilion, [he] enhanced it as a space for inspiration and experimentation for the most innovative artistic and architectural creation." Finch joined a prominent team of artists and architects, including SANAA, Jeff Wall, Ai Wei Wei, Enric Miralles, Andrés Jaque, and Anna & Eugeni Bach, among others.

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The Fundació Mies van der Rohe has announced a list of 40 projects that will compete for the Young Talent Architecture Award 2018 (YTAA 2018). The award was established in 2016 to “support the talent of recently graduated Architects, Urban Planners and Landscape Architects who will be responsible for transforming our environment in the future,” and joins the Foundation's European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award “in promoting high-quality work amongst emerging and established architects through the acknowledgment of the value of good buildings.”

More than 330 projects were submitted from over 118 European, Chinese, and Korean architecture schools, which were narrowed down to a shortlist of 40 projects by an esteemed jury of architects and curators. The YTAA 2018 exhibition is a collateral event at the Venice Biennale, opening on May 24th at the Palazzo Mora, where 12 finalists will be announced. The names of the four winning schemes will become known on June 28th.

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Margins, boundaries and borders
Relationships between built space and social structures

The Fundació Mies van der Rohe has announced the three winners of the inaugural Young Talent Architecture Award (YTAA) 2016. Established this year to “support the talent of recently graduated Architects, Urban Planners and Landscape Architects who will be responsible for transforming our environment in the future,” 9 finalists were selected from a shortlist of 30 projects, which was then narrowed down to 3 winners.

The Fundació Mies van der Rohe has announced a list of 30 projects that will compete for the inaugural Young Talent Architecture Award (YTAA) 2016. The award was established this year to “support the talent of recently graduated Architects, Urban Planners and Landscape Architects who will be responsible for transforming our environment in the future,” and joins the Foundation's European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award “in promoting high quality work amongst emerging and established architects through the acknowledgement of the value of good buildings.”

More than 200 projects were submitted from over 100 European architecture schools, which were narrowed down to a shortlist of 30 projects by an esteemed jury of architects and curators. Three winners will be selected at the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale in Venice on October 28th 2016 as part of the 2016 Venice Biennale.

The shortlisted projects are:

On the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the reconstruction of the Barcelona Pavilion, the Fundació Mies van der Rohe has organised a symposium, presided over by Juan José Lahuerta, on the figure of Mies van der Rohe and the German Pavilion for the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition.

UPDATE: The videos are no longer available on YouTube. :(

Over the past 20 years, many of the most renowned European cultural institutions - including ARTE France, Les Films d’Ici, the Louvre, the Ministry of Culture and Communication Department of Architecture and Heritage, Centre Pompidou, City of Architecture and Heritage, Musée d'Orsay and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe - have come together to produce more than 50 architecture documentaries devoted to the most significant achievements of architecture, its beginnings, and the latest creations of the great architects of today. Now, these videos are accessible to the public via the YouTube Channel ACB (Art and Culture Bureau).

Each documentary is approximately 26 minutes long, and focuses on the genesis and impact of a single building that has played a role in the evolution of architecture. Narration is in English, and many of the videos of newer buildings feature interviews with the architects themselves. Check out some of the videos below, or find the entire list here.

“There is a certain tradition, history, and continuity that you can read in European architecture”
- Spela Videcnik, OFIS arhitekti

A product of context and history, Europe has influenced the architecture world in a way that perhaps no other continent has. The continent is the topic of the latest video from the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, produced in relation to their European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture, in which prize-nominated architects from 16 European cities are interviewed on what they believe brings them together, and what makes them different.

As a US citizen who has previously lived in Europe for two years, I was struck by the essential question prompted by the video: “Is there a European identity in architecture?” And if so, what exactly is it? To try to answer this question, I sat down with ArchDaily’s managing editor Rory Stott - a Brit - to debate differing perspectives.

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For the past 27 years, the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award has not only recognized the most relevant buildings in the EU, but has also served as a timeline of the evolution of European Architecture.

By looking back on the thousands of projects that have been nominated over the years, one can see a new identity take shape in the EU after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and thanks to the free movement of people — and therefore creative capital - that the EU developed.

In this interview, Giovanna Carnevali, the director of the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, tells us how the award is also becoming a database of hundreds of recognized architects, a powerful network that can be used to assist EU countries by linking "institutions that do have money but they don’t know how to use it and professionals."

If you didn't get to see "Made in Europe" -- the incredible exhibition presented by The European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe -- during this year's Venice Biennale, you're in luck. Though the show officially closed on August 4th, the projects featured in exhibition can now be viewed online.

Showing an unparalleled examination of the development in European architecture over the past 25 years, the exhibition drew on the continent’s largest collection of documents (more than 2,500 projects and 230 original models) on contemporary architecture. On the site, you can sort and view projects by location, program, and author. Don't miss out on the opportunity to take advantage of this remarkable resource!

To learn more about this exhibition (and the symposium that accompanied it), click here. After the break, see a full gallery of exhibition. Also, don’t miss ArchDaily’s coverage of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award.

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The Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design in partnership with the Fundació Mies van der Rohe have launched an exciting program of discussions and workshops titled: «Rethinking Europe - European experience in the city development»

The series, which, as part of the Strelka Institute's summer program, will run from the June 30 to July 29, invites representatives from the architectural and urban planning communities of Europe's four largest cities - Amsterdam, Berlin, Barcelona, and London - to discuss how their city's approaches to urban development could be applied to urban territories in Moscow. Learn more about this fantastic series, after the break.