We have met the best projects of recent years, which will compete for the title of Europe's best building. 20 buildings from Poland will compete for the European Union Prize in the Mies van der Rohe competition for contemporary architecture.
On February 2, nominations from all countries participating in the plebiscite were announced. This is the first of several selection stages. The nominees were submitted by local experts and professional associations. Now they face verification and evaluation by an international jury. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the plebiscite has been postponed by a year, dividing the nominations into two phases. The first phase is for sites completed between October 2018 and October 2020, plus a second phase has been separated to cover work completed between November 2020 and April 2021. Together, these two phases will constitute the list of works eligible for the EU Mies Award 2022.
Calendar of works
- January 2021: announcement of the works nominated in Phase I of the EU Mies Award
- September 2021: announcement of works nominated in the second phase of the EU Mies Award
- January 2022: announcement of works shortlisted for the competition
- February 2022: announcement of the 5 finalists of the works
- April 2022: announcement of Winners
Polish nominees
Nominations in the country were submitted by representatives of the Association of Polish Architects, Hubert Trammer, Ewa P. Porębska and Marcin Szczelina. Below is a list of all the projects selected at the national level, which now face international selection.
The monastery of the Polish Province of the Congregation of Nursing Sisters of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis in Dobrzen Wielki
Photo: Stanislaw Zajączkowski - PORT
Architects from the PORT studio in Wroclaw have designed aconventbuilding for the Franciscan Sisters of the Hospital in Dobrzen Wielki. Thenew convent was built right next to a social welfare home, also designed by the Wroclaw studio. As the authors write, at the basis of the design assumptions of the monastery was the belief that architecture, in addition to responding to all the pragmatic needs of man, also affects his emotions and spirit.
Subway stations in Warsaw's Wola district
photo by Kacper Kepinski
Warsaw's three subway stations in Warsaw's Wola were built simultaneously with stops on the other bank of the Vistula River. Unlike the balanced design of the Prague section, Wola received three stations with individual aesthetics inspired by the immediate neighborhood. The design of the new subway stations is the responsibility of Kazimierski and Ryba Design Bureau and Archinauci.
New Nikiszowiec
Nowy Nikiszowiec is part of the government's Mieszkanie+ program. The architectural design of the housing development was prepared by the 22Architekci studio. It was selected through an architectural competition decided in 2017 . The form of the estate directly refers to the well-known workers' colony located in the neighborhood.
Library in Glucholazy
Photo: Stanisław Zajączkowski - MiA Domicz
In the small town of Głuchołazy, once gracefully called Goat's Neck, located at the foot of the Sudeten Mountains right on the border with the Czech Republic, which was famous for its former status as a health resort, a purist, restrained block of the Municipal Library has sprung up in 2019. It is modern, but it also fit into an uneasy spatial context that proved to be quite a challenge. The author of the architectural concept Antoni Domicz undertook the realization of the library building despite these difficulties.
Home for the Homeless in the village of Jankowice
photo. xystudio
The xystudio studio is responsible for the design of the house located in the village of Jankowice. The center, run by the Bread of Life Community, is first and foremost a functional one, fully adapted to the needs of the people who live there. People for whom there is no place in the system, because they enjoy too good health to live in nursing homes and too bad to use night shel ters.
Reconstruction of the PKS Station in Kielce.
Photo by Kacper Kepinski
Completed in 2020, based on a competition design from four years ago, the Kielce Bus Station is a project to modernize the city's iconic building. Designers from Kaminski Bojarowicz Architects' office in their concept assumed preservation of the most important structural elements of the building and complete reconstruction of the interiors. Only some of the detailing was preserved, and the project was expanded to include modernization of the surrounding pubic spaces.
Reconstruction of the Powiśle Power Plant
photo: press materials
At the beginning of the 20th century, Poland's largest and, by the standards of the time, most modern power plant was built in the capital. In 2001 it ceased operations after working almost continuously since 1904. The nearly 54,000-square-meter former power plant buildings now house a new shopping center. The authors of the redevelopment of Elektrownia Powiśle are theAPA WOJCIECHOWSKI architectural studio . Construction of the complex began in 2016.
The Great Synagogue Memorial Park in Oswiecim
Photo by Piotr Strycharski
In Oswiecim, architects from theNArchitekTURAstudio have designed a unique space - the Great Synagogue Memorial Park. Unusual in this project is not only the symbolic dimension, recalling the shape of the now-defunct synagogue, but also the material used for its implementation - grooved slabs of gray sandstone, an industrial waste, which, thanks to its use in the Memorial Park, has not been written off.
New Żerniki
Photo by Kacper Kepinski
In Poland, housing in recent years has become an important part of the debate, both architectural and political. Interesting initiatives are emerging, proposing a new, more social approach. An example that is unprecedented in the country is the New Żerniki in Wroclaw - a model housing development, created on the initiative of committed architects and the City Council. The authors of the entire complex have been nominated as a "super office" - which includes more than 40 architectural studios.
Riverview in Gdansk
photo: Vastint Polska
The Riverview estate project by APA Wojciechowski Architekci is a complex of seven residential buildings with services, located in close proximity to the center of Gdansk. The authors dressed the new estate in a style costume referring to traditional Gdansk buildings. The brick-finished walls and soaring gabled roofs harmoniously complement the development of the neighborhood.
Center for Local Activities in Rybnik
Photo: Michal Jedrzejowski - MWArchitekci
The first Local Activity Center has been put into operation in Rybnik, Upper Silesia 2019. More are also planned. The author of the project is Marlena Wolnik, founder of the MWArchitekci studio. The initiator, in turn, was the late Wojciech Student - architect, local government official, vice-president of Rybnik. The plan of the building extends to a rectangle with a twisted roof. The roof is also used as a tribune for outdoor events and has utility value - one can sit or rest on it. The building also has a meeting room, space for a catering establishment and a sanitary area.
Activity Zone in Chorzow
Photo SLAS
The Activity Zone in Chorzów is a project of multifunctional space prepared by the SLAS studio. The designated area of the study proposed a concrete surface of the square, perforated with a diversified utility program, which includes recreation areas for students, play and recreation equipment for children and thedisabled, fitness equipment, individually designed elements of small architecture and green areas, some of which can be developed by seniors.
New Verdon
Photo: MAŁECCY design office
For a long time, multifamily residential architecture in Upper Silesia was mainly associated with familoks - brick, low-rise houses with gabled roofs. Architects from the MAŁECCY design office proposed a new solution in the Wirek district of Ruda Śląska - English-inspired terraced houses enclosed in a simple block covered with a gable roof.
P4
Photo: Kacper Kępiński
The P4 complex with the Vienna House Mokotow Warsaw Hotel was completed in 2019. The project by JEMS ARCHITEKCI studio is distinguished primarily by the concrete structure used to build the architectural expression of the buildings, which isbased on a system of reinforced concrete frames and columns with a characteristic "V" shape. The raw architectural concrete and dynamic, post-tensioned forms create an almost industrial expression of the buildings. Interestingly, the building had to change its function already at the construction stage. The building originally intended for offices was redesigned into a hotel. This operation would not have succeeded had it not been for the flexible, open to change premise of the original design.
Museum of Józef Piłsudski in Sulejówek
The concept for the museum, which will open in 2020, was developed by Krzysztof Jaraczewski, grandson of Marshal Piłsudski, president of the Józef Piłsudski Family Foundation and also an architect. The expansion of the complex, which includes the Milusin mansion that once belonged to Jozef Pilsudski, was created in cooperation with Radoslaw Kacprzak. The construction and detailed design was entrusted to Warsaw-based PIG Architekci studio.
ZODIAK - Warsaw Pavilion of Architecture
photo: ZODIAK
The Kalata Architekci team took on the task of building a new pavilion on the site of an outstanding but ruined work by Jan Boguslawski and Bohdan Gniewiewski. The rebuilt Zodiac mainly houses exhibition, conference and office spaces. Superstructed by one floor, it refers in its form to its predecessor by recreating the old divisions and spatial solutions in new materials.
Enclave Bobrowisko in Stary Sącz
Photo: Dariusz Ptak
The Bobrowisko Nature Enclave in Stary Sącz is a project designed by Anna Szewczyk-Swiątek and Wojciech Świątek of 55Architekci. Located in the forks of the Dunajec and Poprad rivers in Stary Sącz, it has become another destination for short trips, after the platform in Wola Krogulecka. The realization was awarded, among others, the Stanislaw Witkiewicz Małopolski Voivodeship Award for non-invasive action in the natural environment.
Local Activity Center in Wroclaw
photo. ch+ Architects
Created by ch+ architects, the space of the Local Activity Center is primarily a meeting place. It provides space for informal gatherings, workshops,a summer cinema, a dance hall and a green roof - all in a renovated 19th-century building in an annex in Przedmieście Oławskie.
Yellow Elephant Kindergarten in Suwałki
photo: xystudio
The nursery and kindergarten in Suwałki is where the children of the employees of the "Forte" Furniture Factory spend their time. They can fit up to 150 of them there! The architects of zXYSTUDIO took into account the issue of the "Polish cold pole" - the building is located on the edge of the city, in a beautiful meadow, which, however, is very windy.The designers decided to design a low spreading building with extensive small architecture for children's use - a playground with a sizable sandbox and swings.
Revitalization of the Oławski Suburb in Wrocław
This nomination encompasses a number of projects and activities that in recent years can be observed in the Olawskie Suburb in Wroclaw. The nominated group includes the Center for Local Activity by ch+ architekci, the boulevard over the Oława River by Vertigo Margareta Jarczewska and a+f space design, revitalization of backyards and activation of communal service premises.
