MUSAC Wins The Mies van der Rohe Award 2007

Sunday, 29 April 2007 18:52

BARCELONA, SPAIN - MUSAC Contemporary Art Museum of Castilla y León by Mansilla + Tuñón has won the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award 2007.  Ján Figel’, European Commissioner in charge of Education, Training, Culture and Youth and Jordi Hereu, Mayor of Barcelona and President of the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, have announced today that the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award 2007 has been granted to the MUSAC - Contemporary Art Museum of Castilla y León, Spain by Luis M. Mansilla and Emilio Tuñón/Mansilla + Tuñón.  The jury, chaired by Richard Burdett, visited the seven finalists works before coming to their decision regarding the laureate of the Award for this edition.

In making their decision to grant the Award to the MUSAC the jury praised the tectonic clarity of the building and the intelligent realization of the program.  The jury appreciated the conceptual basis of a series of flexible interior spaces that deal effectively with the challenges of exhibiting contemporary art.

The Emerging Architect Special Mention goes to Matija Bevk and Vasa J. Perović/Bevk Perović arhitekti for their Faculty of Mathematics in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The selection of the award winners is a reflection of the main objective underlying the Award, namely to acknowledge excellent and innovative projects characterized by high-quality construction and to recognize the best architectural works built in Europe in the past two years.  By supporting this Award in the framework of the Community Culture Program the Commission underlines the role that cultural activities play as engineers of creativity and innovations in Europe.

On May 14, 2007, the laureates will be presented with their awards at the granting ceremony at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona at 19:30h. Prior to that, at 17:00h, the architects will give a lecture presenting the MUSAC.  This year the Foundation will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Award with a round table meeting with previous Award winners.