Filarmónica de Szczecin

The Philharmonic Hall of Szczecin in Poland, by the Spanish studio Barozzi Veiga, has won the 2015 Mies van der Rohe Award for Contemporary Architecture. Presented every two years and endowed with 60,000 euros, the prize recognizes quality in European architectural production. The building, with large glass skylights in all its spaces and with a completely glazed exterior cladding, carried the day over the other finalists: the Art Museum in Ravensburg (Germany), by Lederer Ragnarsdóttir Oei; the Danish Maritime Museum in Helsingør (Denmark) by Bjarke Ingels Group; the Antinori Winery in San Casciano Val di Pesa (Italy), by Archea Associati; and the LSE Saw Swee Hock Student Center, by O’Donnell + Tuomey. This edition has had a special Spanish flavor because, aside from the first prize to Barozzi Veiga, the jury, formed by Cino Zucchi, Tony Chapman, Margarita Jover, Xiangning Li, Hansjörg Mölk, Lene Tranberg and Peter L. Wilson, gave the Emerging Architect Special Mention to the Barcelona studio Arquitectura-G for their Casa Luz in Cilleros (Cáceres).