Brussels, 12/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - On 11 April in Barcelona, the European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Multi-Lingualism, Jan Figel, and the Mayor of Barcelona, Joan Clos, awarded the EU prize for contemporary architecture work to Rem Koolhaas, a Dutch architect, for the Netherlands Embassy Berlin. The Emerging Architect Special Mention award of 10,000 euros goes to the Basketbar project in Utrecht (Netherlands), by architects Pieter Bannenberg, Walter van Dijk, Kamile Klasse and Mark Linnemann.
An international jury composed of 9 members - Aaron Betsky, Stefano Boeri, Eduard Bru, Roberto Collova, Mohesen Mostafavi, Suha Özkan, Francis Rambert and Kazuyo Sejima - and chaired by Zaha Hadid (2003 prizewinner) chose the winner from a short list of five projects which, in addition to the Netherlands Embassy Berlin, included the Swiss Re headquarters in London, the Selfridges & Co department store in Birmingham, the Forum 2004 esplanade in Barcelona and the Braga municipal building in Portugal. Created in 2001 at the initiative of the European Commission and the Mies van der Rohe Foundation, this two-yearly award is a reward for excellence and innovation in technical design and the construction of European works. Awarded within the European Culture 2000 programme, the award amounts to EUR 50,000 and a sculpture by Catalan artist Xavier Corbero.