The nominees for the 2015 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture Mies van der Rohe Award 2015 were revealed in late November 2014. Among those named were the Arquitectura G studio, made up of ESARQ School of Architecture alumni and professors Jonathan Arnabat, Jordi Ayala-Bril, Aitor Fuentes and Igor Urdampilleta, as well as BCQ Arquitectura, founded by David Baena, who also teaches at ESARQ.
Arquitectura G was nominated for its project “Luz House”, which won several prizes over the course of 2014, including the ASCER prize. The Joan Maragall Library, which was inaugurated in June 2014 and designed by David Baena, a lecturer in the ESARQ Area of Architectural Construction at the ESARQ School of Architecture, was also nominated for the prestigious prize.
Architects were nominated by the member organizations of the Architect’s Council of Europe (ACE), other architectural associations, a group of independent experts and the prize’s advisory committee. Nominated works included several projects by renowned architects who have passed through the halls of the ESARQ School of Architecture: the Gösta Serlachius Museum in Finland by the MX_SI Architectural Studio, which includes Héctor Mendoza and Mara Partida, former ESARQ Projects professors who participated in the 2012 Interdisciplinary Humanities Workshop; the Balaguer House by Ricardo Flores y Eva Prats, final degree project advisors at ESARQ in 2008, 2010 and 2011; the Saragossa CaixaForum by Carme Pinós, who led the 2008 Interdisciplinary Humanities Workshop “GAMES: Playing in a Place”, along with Carlos Ferrater; and the Can Zariquiey Health Centre by Josep Miàs, who led the Projects Department from 2004 to 2006.
The Mies van der Rohe Award is a biennial competition whose primary objective is to recognize and laud excellence in the field of architecture and to highlight the important contributions of European professionals to the development of new concepts and technologies. The competition was first held in 1988. In 2000, it also began honouring the work of young professionals through the Emerging Architect Special Mention. The award has been the European Union’s official architecture prize since 2001.
