Marina Miceli
Europe Press Office,London
This large and innovative timber structure is one of five buildings shortlisted for this prestigious award.
The six large timber parasols designed by J. Mayer H. Architects are a finalist among works by BIG, Aires Mateus Architects, Batteríid Architects/Henning Larsen Architects, and Robbrecht en Daem Architects.
To perform the structural, electrical, mechanical, and fire safety engineering for this four-level, 150-meter-long timber mega-structure, Arup researched, developed, and tested novel solutions. A network of beams forms one of the largest timber structures ever built, with more than 3,000 connection nodes at the intersections of elements.
This prize, also known as the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture, is granted every two years to acknowledge and reward high-quality architectural production in Europe. In total, 335 works in 37 European countries were nominated for the award.
The winners of the 2013 Mies van der Rohe architecture award will be announced in May and awarded on 6 June at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona, Spain.