The German idea won over 39 other European competitors, which included a floating university in Berlin, a vertical school in Madrid, Spain, and a mysterious garden close to Lund, Sweden.
The winners of this year’s EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture are the architects Gustav Düsing and Max Hacke’s Study Pavilion, located on the campus of the Technical University of Braunschweig in Germany.
The German initiative, which was made public by the European Commission and Fundació Mies van der Rohe, is being honored for its creative approach to sustainability as well as for establishing a warm and engaging environment for learning, community building, and social events.
The youngest winners of the EUmies Architecture Prize are Düsing and Hacke, who established their studios in 2015 and prevailed in the study center competition.
The award and a €60,000 check will be given to the architect team on May 14 at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona.
The foundation refers to the pavilion’s open space design as a “counter-model to spaces of hierarchical knowledge transfer” since it allows for a flexible arrangement that supports a range of student activities.
The hybrid structure’s capacity to be disassembled and reassembled is another noteworthy characteristic. As part of the circular economy, individual components can be reused in accordance with the “future material depot” philosophy.
The structure is being recognized “for its capacity to subvert the limitations and representations of sustainability” and for the way it “has taken a distinct architectural concept, examined it closely, and tested its limits.”
The Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez Library in Barcelona won the Emerging Architecture Prize along with the Study Pavilion, which was the winner.
The five-story mass timber structure, which was created by Madrid-based firm SUMA Arquitectura, was welcomed by the community when it opened in the fall of last year and won the title of Best Public Library in the World 2023 from the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.
SUMA’s design sought to counteract the danger that the internet world posed to the conventional notion of a library as a place for community participation.
While the “ideas forum” rooms, which may be closed off for privacy, are positioned to promote interaction among local clubs or organizations, the ground floor reading areas face the street.
The first-floor children’s level has sensory rooms, while the adult spaces—which include multimedia and “concentration” rooms, terraces, and winter gardens—are situated at the top of the light-filled atrium. The basement contains conference and theater facilities, along with a local radio station.
The awards ceremony, which is scheduled for May 14, 2024, will launch Barcelona Architecture Weeks in the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona.
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