Nominated works for the EU Mies Award 2017
The European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe have announced the list of 356 works competing for the 2017 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award.
The Prize is awarded biennially to works completed within the previous two years. The principal objective is to recognize and commend excellence and innovation in the field of architecture.
Among the 356 nominees there are 14 works by Catalan architects or architecture studios:
Federico García Lorca Centre, Granada
MX-SI architectural studio (Boris Bezan; Héctor Mendoza; Mara Partida; Monica Juvera)
Fire Prevention Park - Firemen Space, Barcelona
Roldán+Berengué, arqts. (Mercè Berengué; José Miguel Roldán)
Encants School, Barcelona
Roger Méndez Badias (Área Metropolitana de Barcelona)
Collective housing for elderly people and civic and health centre, Barcelona
Bonell i Gil; peris+toral.arquitectes
Community Architectes. Office of Citizen Assistance, Barcelona
ETSAB-UPC (Ibon Bilbao; Marta Peris; etc)
Sala Beckett. Theatre and International Drama Centre, Barcelona
Flores & Prats (Eva Prats; Ricardo Flores)
110 Rooms. Collective Housing at Provença Street, Barcelona
Maio (María Charneco; Anna Puigjaner; Alfredo Lérida; Guillermo López)
Public Market, Sant Adrià de Besòs
manrique planas arquitectes slp; Àgata Vila Arquitecta (Maria Manrique; Gisela Planas; Àgata Vila)
Psychological Medical Center, Vic
Comas-Pont arquitectes (Jordi Comas Mora; Anna Pont Armengol)
New access to the historical centre of Gironella
Carles Enrich architecture + urbanism
Recovery of the Irrigation System at the Thermal Orchards, Caldes de Montbui
CICLICA; CAVAA (Marta Serra; Elena Albareda; Jordi Calbetó)
Ressò Project, Rubí
RESSÒ - ETSAV - UPC
House 104, Granollers
H Arquitectes (David Lorente; Josep Ricart; Roger Tudó; Xavier Ros)
Extension to Sant Jordi Public School, Vilanova i la Geltrú
GATPA (Gerard Puig; Alex Gallego; Jordi Adell; David Tapias Monné)
For further information on the Award and the nominated works, click here.
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Building in Catalonia is growing, but the sector has yet to recover
1. We are not witnessing sustained growth: the evolution of authorizations actually points to a slowdown. While between July 2014 and July 2015 there was an increase of 32% in the surface area authorized, between July 2015 and July 2016 this growth had dropped by almost half, to 15%.
2. The increase in authorized building land relates mainly to a few very large-scale projects (over 10,000 m2), representing 26% of the total.
3. The surface area authorized during the first six months of this year continues to be extremely low throughout Catalonia, and very much below the construction and building renovation levels in the rest of Europe.This therefore continues to be an unsustainable situation for the sector, which needs policies and incentives to reactivate it from an economic point of view and in order to complete its modernization process.
ANALYSIS BY REGION
The province of Barcelona stands out for its continued growth (though not including the city of Barcelona). A total of 855,854 m2 were authorized this year, 36.57% more than in the second half of 2015. However, of this total we need to bear in mind that 24.3% is for large-scale projects (over 10,000 m2). The city of Barcelona showed an increase of 20.26%, the bulk of which was for projects of between 3,000 m2 and 10,000 m2. With regard to the other provinces, there was slight growth in Girona (5.97%) and Lleida (1.26%), while Tarragona and Terres de l’Ebre showed drops of 37.8% and 32.02% respectively.
ANALYSIS BY TYPE OF BUILDING
In absolute terms, new build is continuing to show the most significant rise (22.56%), with around 1,083,329 m2 of land authorized. The surface area authorized for renovation dropped by 1.34% compared to the previous six-month period, with around 491,373 m2.ANALYSIS BY USE
The current data show an increase in both housing and non-residential use, although figures are still very low. With regard to non-residential use, there were increases in health, education and office buildings which in previous periods had slowed down.With regard to the number of homes authorized, there were a total of 4,044 in the first half of the year which represents an increase of 12% compared to the previous six-month period.
CONCLUSIONS
- The total volume of authorized surface area is still very much below the figure that would equate to the usual minimum.
- The sector is not yet experiencing a sufficiently strong structural recovery. Smaller projects of less than 3,000 m2 have only risen by 5.6%, while large-scale ones of over 10,000 m2 grew by 21.56%. Once again, the reactivation of the sector is failing to have an impact on either the majority of architects or other professionals and firms working in the sector.
- The increase in activity reflected in the amount of authorized surface area is primarily due to major projects in the province of Barcelona. In other provinces this figure has either fallen or remained stable.
- Once again, these figures underline something that the COAC has been demanding for some time: the need to implement measures of structural change to drive and steer the sector’s recovery and, as a knock-on factor, the economy.
Consequently, the Association reiterates the need for a comprehensive Strategic Plan containing MEASURES TO PROMOTE URBAN RENOVATION.
El Archivo Histórico del COAC colabora con la exposición "De l'amor és lo jardí": Masó y los tejidos
Por un lado, se pueden descubrir los bordados y otras labores que Masó diseñó para su familia y para la intimidad del hogar, donde demostró que su obra no se termina en la concepción y el diseño los edificios, sino que llegaba a todos los rincones de la casa. Por el otro, la exposición también presenta a Masó como artista al servicio de su ciudad y de su país, con el diseño de banderas para todo tipo de organizaciones civiles y religiosas.
En esta ocasión, el Archivo Histórico del COAC colabora cediendo en préstamo 14 dibujos originales del arquitecto Rafael Masó, como el proyecto de la bandera "Excelsior" para el Orfeón Artes y Patria de Figueres (1907), dibujos de camisolas infantiles o el croquis para la colocación del tapiz de San Jorge en la calle de Ciudadanos (1906).
"Del amor es el jardín": Masó y los tejidos se podrá visitar hasta el 15 de abril de 2017.