EUROPA - Rem Koolhaas receives the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture/Mies van der Rohe Award 2005

EUROPA "Rem Koolhaas receives the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture/Mies van der Rohe Award 2005

Yesterday in the Catalan capital, Rem Koolhaas was presented with the European Union Prize - an award for works of architecture - by Ján Figel’, the European Commissioner responsible for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism, and Joan Clos, the mayor of Barcelona. The work honoured by the panel of judges was the Dutch embassy in Berlin.

During a ceremony held today in Barcelona, the European Commissioner responsible for Culture, Ján Figel’, and the mayor of the city, Joan Clos, presented the Dutch architect, Rem Koolhaas, with the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture.

The biannual prize, established in 2001 on the initiative of the European Commission and the Mies van der Rohe Foundation, rewards excellence and innovation in the conceptual, technical and constructional qualities of European works. Created within the framework of the European Culture 2000 programme, and with a prize of €50 000 and a sculpture by the Catalan artist Xavier Corberó, the competition is aimed at both experienced and novice architects. In total, 242 works of architecture were nominated for the prize that was open to projects completed between 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2004, by experts in the field and national architecture associations throughout Europe. An international panel of judges comprising nine members[1] and presided over by Zaha Hadid (who was awarded the prize in 2003) chose the winner from a list of five finalists that included – besides the Dutch embassy in Berlin – the headquarters of Swiss Re in London, the Selfridges & Co department store in Birmingham, the Forum 2004 esplanade in Barcelona and the Braga municipal stadium in Portugal.