The European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe have announced the five finalists which will compete for the 2017 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award.

1. Kannikegården

Kannikegaarden with Ribe Cthedral in foreground, © Anders Sune Berg

Ribe, Denmark | 2015 | Mixed use – Cultural & Social

Studios: Lundgaard & Tranberg Architects, Lundgaard & Tranberg Architects

Kannikegården in Ribe, Denmark’s best preserved medieval city, is on the main square, just across the city cathedral. The simple brick clad volume hovers above the city floor to expose an open ground floor with a 1000-year-old brick ruin integrated within. The ruin as well as the modern cladding convey stories of cultural and historical heritage.

2. Ely Court

End of Terrace view from Countryard,© Paul Riddle

London, United Kingdom | 2015 | Collective housing

Studio: Alison Brooks Architects

Ely Court is a 44 dwelling residential development within the South Kilburn Estate Regeneration Masterplan in the London Borough of Brent. Ely Court forms part of Phase 1 of the Regeneration Programme.  The scheme delivers a mixture of single and double storey dwellings with 40% made available to existing South Kilburn Estate social tenants.

3. deFlat Kleiburg

© Marcel van der Burg

Amsterdam, The Netherlands | 2016 | Collective housing

Studios:  NL Architects; XVW architectuur

De Flat is an innovative renovation of one of the biggest apartment buildings in the NL called Kleiburg, a bend slab with 500 apartments, 400 meter long, 10 + 1 stories high. Consortium De FLAT rescued the building from the wracking ball by turning it into a Klusflat meaning that the inhabitants renovate their apartments by themselves.

4. THE RIVESALTES MEMORIAL MUSEUM

The Rivesaltes Memorial – Neither oblivion nor forgiveness

Frontal View, © Kevin Dolmaire

Rivesaltes/Ribesaltes, France | 2015 | Culture

Studio: Rudy Ricciotti

This memorial lies in the earth, squarely facing block F, with a calm and silent determination, untouchable, angled towards the sky. At once buried in, and emerging from the earth, the memorial appears on the surface of the natural landscape as one enters the camp, and stretches to the eastern extremity of the former meeting place, to a height that is level with the roofs of the existing bunkhouses.

5. Katyn Museum

Katyn Museum, © BBGK Architekci

Warszawa, Poland | 2015 | Culture

Studios: BBGK Architekci

Katyn Museum is there to commemorate a painful episode of Polish history which took place during the World War II when over a twenty thousands of Polish military officers and state officials were brutally murdered by the Soviet Secret Police.

Source: http://miesarch.com