It predictably includes two of the most notable structures of recent years - the Roman MAXXI Museum of Zaha Hadid and the updated New Museum in Berlin by David Chipperfield; these same buildings were nominated in 2010 for the main prize of British architecture, the Sterling Prize (then won by Hadid).
They were rivaled by two more large and widely discussed (and criticized) cultural institutions - the concert hall of Danish Radio in Copenhagen by Jean Nouvel and the new building of the Athens Acropolis Museum by Bernard Chumi.
To these "flagships" added more modest and, perhaps, more "responsible" buildings. These are the small "Youth Theater Bronx" in Brussels by the MDMA bureau (it is designed for only 200 spectators) and the Groot Klimmendaal rehabilitation center in Arnhem in the east of the Netherlands by Architectenbureau Koen van Velsen.
The EU representative summed up the jury's choice as follows: "Our finalists have in common - two things: they are Europeans and they are among the most original architects in the world." You can't argue with the first, the second can be discussed, but one thing is clear: the “scale difference” between big names and buildings-“signs” and modest workers and socially important buildings has become a common disease of all such awards, and the more prestigious they are, the more clearly it is. It is difficult to compare such works, and in a month, when the winner is announced, it will become clear how well the jury will cope with it. It includes architects Anne Lakaton, Annette Guigon, Pei Zhu, as well as the director of the Netherlands Institute of Architecture, Ole Bauman.
The Mies van der Rohe Prize is awarded every two years, and is nominated for buildings located in 33 European countries (343 were selected this year). Last time the award was given to the building of the National Opera House in Oslo by the Snehetta Bureau.
