Polish and Slovak projects shortlisted for the EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture

Barcelona, Spain – Two Polish and Slovak projects are among the 40 works shortlisted for the EU Mies Award 2019, the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture. It is the first time that Slovakia has a shortlisted work.

Picked out of 383 nominees, which also included projects in Hungary and the Czech Republic, the rest of the shortlisted works are spread over 17 different European countries. The jury, chaired by Danish architect Dorte Mandrup, will announce the five finalists on February 13. The award ceremony will take place on May 7 at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona, with the Prize Winner receiving 60.000€.

The adaptation of the former factory Mlynica is first Slovak project to ever be shortlisted for the award. The building is part of a large post-industrial area of ​​Light Building Materials in Bratislava. Since 1960s, porous prefabricated concrete blocks, slabs and panels were produced here until 1992. After privatization, the new owners sold off the complex and a gradual disintegration of the structures began.

This project aims at combining living and working spaces with the ambition of creating a unique community in Bratislava.

The new building for the Radio and TV Faculty of the Silesia University in the Polish city of Katowice is the only other shortlisted work from Central Europe EU Architecture Prize.

The project hosts the complete program of the film school, which comprises a set of theoretical classrooms, offices and work rooms, a space for rehearsal and recording, a small cinema for screenings, a cafeteria, kitchen and a lobby, and common spaces for exchange between students. The rehabilitated old factory becomes the library of the university.

The proposal extends all the way through the plot and generate a patio, around which all pieces are placed, becoming a social relationship point for the different workshops and classrooms of the new university.

Held biennially, the EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture was created to acknowledge and reward quality architectural production in Europe, and to highlight the important contribution of European professionals to the sustainable development and transformation of Europe’s built environment.

In 2017, Warsaw’s Katyn Museum was one of the five finalists but lost to the DeFlat Kleiburg project in Amsterdam.