The Mies van der Rohe Prize is awarded every two years to an architect from an EU member state for a building within the EU. Unlike last time, when all five finalists were exquisite cultural structures, now a jury chaired by British architect Stephen Bates has chosen more diverse and more realistic applicants. Bates, presenting the buildings selected for the final, quoted Peter Smithson - "things should be everyday and heroic at the same time" - and explained that the judges were looking for a combination of "humdrum" with "restrained lyricism" among the applicants.
Also, the organizers of the award and members of the jury emphasized that the finalist buildings reflect the most pressing civil problems in Europe, including the lack of historical memory. In addition, other topics, already architectural, were touched upon: affordable housing, reconstruction of the heritage of modernism - first of all, large residential areas, new construction in a historical environment, the creation of symbolic spaces.
The winner will be announced on May 16, 2017, and this year, for the first time from May 20 to May 28, this building, the four other finalized buildings, as well as the one awarded with the Prize for Emerging Architects will be available to the general public. Also new will be a series of round tables and conferences timed to coincide with the award ceremony on May 26, 2017.
Residential complex deFlat Kleiburg
NL Architects and XVW architectuur
Amsterdam
The residential complex is a reconstructed residential building "Kleiburg" - an 11-storey building for 500 apartments, 400 meters long. It was one of a series of similar houses that made up the development in the Beilmermeer area: they were arranged in a honeycomb pattern, which looked spectacular from the air, but not from the ground. When the array faced all the typical problems of such post-war "large ensembles", the huge houses began to be demolished partly, replacing them with suburban-style buildings, partly - to remove their individual sections, rebuilding the remaining parts. Archi.ru wrote about this story in more detail here. "Kleyburgh" remained the last untouched building of this massif, and as a result it was sold for 1 euro with the condition of reconstruction. Completed in 2016, the renovation included the modernization of the house as a whole, while the apartments went to tenants “without finishing”, which reduced the volume of investments and became an innovative scheme for the Netherlands. Among the measures taken were the replacement of parts of the facade overlooking the galleries with glazing in order to remove the impression of being closed and alienated, moving the storage rooms from the previously deserted ground floor to all the others - the first level as a result became a public area and connected the house with the surrounding space, using instead of general bright lighting galleries, interrupting lamps above each door, lamps with motion sensors, which turns every pedestrian into a shooting star, and so on.
Residential complex Ely Court
Alison Brooks
London
Residential complex, which Archi.ru in detail
published here - also part of the story about affordable housing of the era of modernism: it appears on the site of a dysfunctional residential area, 40% of apartments in new buildings are social, the building density increases, so all residents of the old houses remain in the same place. The plan of the array is a reference to the block, special attention was paid to the connection between the house and the street.
Kannikegården building
Lundgaard & Tranberg
Ribe
Ribe is Denmark's best preserved medieval city. The architects erected a new building in the very heart of its historic center - on the main square, opposite the cathedral. "Kannikegarden" is intended for the parish council and the needs of the clergy of the cathedral. It closely borders on the historic buildings around it, and is also raised above the ground on pillars, since the site below it is occupied by the oldest Christian necropolis in the country (800) and the remains of the 12th century Augustinian abbey. Like the ancient foundation, the lower part of the new building is made of bricks, while the main one is covered with ceramic tiles. The archaeological site is surrounded by glazing with wooden lamellas for sun protection.
Katyn Museum
BBGK Architekci
Warsaw
The museum is located in the southern part
Warsaw Citadel and includes historical buildings, as well as the symbolic "Katyn Forest". In particular, the exposition is located on two levels of the caponier, and the names of 21,857 Polish citizens who died in Katyn are placed on 15 plates in the arcade originally intended for placing cannons. From there, through a narrow "cut" in 12-meter fortifications, the visitor comes to the cross surrounded by trees - the final part of the ensemble. Painted concrete has become an important means of expression; on its surface are imprints of personal belongings of the victims of the Katyn tragedy.
Camp Rivsalt Memorial Museum
Rudy Ricciotti
Rivsalt
Camp Rivesaltes (Camp "Joffre") in the settlement of the same name near Perpignan, on the border of France and Spain, was used from the late 1930s to 2007 by the military and civilian authorities for different purposes: it served as a military base (French and Nazi), the location - refugees from Spain after the end of the Civil War there, German and Italian prisoners of war, refugees from Algeria after this country gained independence in 1962 as a result of the war with France, and nowadays - illegal immigrants. However, the most tragic page in its history was the summer and autumn of 1942, when the Vichy government used it to collect the Jewish population for subsequent deportation to the north of the country, and then to Auschwitz. According to various sources, from 1770 to 2500 people were deported then.
The memorial is made of monolithic ocher-colored concrete, and any traces of formwork are hidden on its surface. Visitors descend into the structure along a ramp; the entrance tunnel suddenly ends with a 240 m long hall. From the inside of the building you cannot see the surroundings, only the sky. Around the three patios are educational spaces, public areas and offices, respectively.
