Fundació Mies van der Rohe: The Latest Architecture and News

Margins, boundaries and borders
Relationships between built space and social structures

“There is a certain tradition, history, and continuity that you can read in European architecture”
- Spela Videcnik, OFIS arhitekti

A product of context and history, Europe has influenced the architecture world in a way that perhaps no other continent has. The continent is the topic of the latest video from the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, produced in relation to their European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture, in which prize-nominated architects from 16 European cities are interviewed on what they believe brings them together, and what makes them different.

As a US citizen who has previously lived in Europe for two years, I was struck by the essential question prompted by the video: “Is there a European identity in architecture?” And if so, what exactly is it? To try to answer this question, I sat down with ArchDaily’s managing editor Rory Stott - a Brit - to debate differing perspectives.

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For the past 27 years, the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award has not only recognized the most relevant buildings in the EU, but has also served as a timeline of the evolution of European Architecture.

By looking back on the thousands of projects that have been nominated over the years, one can see a new identity take shape in the EU after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and thanks to the free movement of people — and therefore creative capital - that the EU developed.

In this interview, Giovanna Carnevali, the director of the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, tells us how the award is also becoming a database of hundreds of recognized architects, a powerful network that can be used to assist EU countries by linking "institutions that do have money but they don’t know how to use it and professionals."

If you didn't get to see "Made in Europe" -- the incredible exhibition presented by The European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe -- during this year's Venice Biennale, you're in luck. Though the show officially closed on August 4th, the projects featured in exhibition can now be viewed online.

Showing an unparalleled examination of the development in European architecture over the past 25 years, the exhibition drew on the continent’s largest collection of documents (more than 2,500 projects and 230 original models) on contemporary architecture. On the site, you can sort and view projects by location, program, and author. Don't miss out on the opportunity to take advantage of this remarkable resource!

To learn more about this exhibition (and the symposium that accompanied it), click here. After the break, see a full gallery of exhibition. Also, don’t miss ArchDaily’s coverage of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award.

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The Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design in partnership with the Fundació Mies van der Rohe have launched an exciting program of discussions and workshops titled: «Rethinking Europe - European experience in the city development»

The series, which, as part of the Strelka Institute's summer program, will run from the June 30 to July 29, invites representatives from the architectural and urban planning communities of Europe's four largest cities - Amsterdam, Berlin, Barcelona, and London - to discuss how their city's approaches to urban development could be applied to urban territories in Moscow. Learn more about this fantastic series, after the break.