Accessible, flexible and reusable, the new European architecture | From the shooter to the city | Culture

The new Mies van der Rohe award, with which the European Community crowns the best architecture, has awarded in this edition to a structure that is a singular building: a circular building—100% removable and 100% reusable—that challenges the idea of permanence. It is detachable, re-constructible and constructible in another way. A building that is more of a construction system than a final product. That is why it contradicts the idea of ​​a finished building and the iconic, visual image of some architecture.

Its authors, Max Hacke (1986) and Gustav Düsing (1984), are the youngest architects to receive the award. They both work in collaborative studios. And they talk about change. And challenging. What should a university serve today? How to share knowledge from a building? Its pavilion illustrates this.

The two-story property is versatile, open. It offers a work space for students—from any faculty or school—without marking spatial hierarchies and with the possibility for whoever arrives to reinvent the spatial distribution. It is used for study and leisure. And respect among users relies on this coexistence.

Thus, this building is a counter-model to the usual architectural system in which the property offers services, but limits the type of distribution. Instead of sharing knowledge from top to bottom—from designer to user—this community pavilion offers the possibility for the user to adjust the space and easily reconfigure its spatial layout. Explore teamwork and coexistence. The ability of materials and resources – overhangs, curtains, terraces – to open and close spaces visually and acoustically.

Thus, it is a changing building without being ephemeral. A pavilion that responds to the very diverse demands of users.

Constructively it is modular and sustainable. Completely reusable, it is raised with a structure that combines steel and wood. It is completely removable, that is, perfectly capable of being rebuilt elsewhere. But it can also be altered and reconstructed in another way. The structure modules, of beams and columns, allow divisions of 3×3 meters. Screwed wooden boards are inserted into the structure. There is no glue or cement. It is a circular building.

Energetically, the property accumulates sun when the trees lose their leaves in winter. And it protects itself from it with the leaves during the summer. 80% of the energy it consumes is renewable. Many times based on ingenious solutions: take advantage of the energy of the 200 students’ computers. Ventilation is natural, through openings, and natural light increases thanks to a large skylight on the upper floor. The cables are integrated into the beams and columns. It is, we said, more a system than a building. But the result is a circular, sustainable and responsible building.

Until June 16, you can visit the EUmies Awards 2024 exhibition at the Victòria Eugènia Palace in Barcelona. In July, he will travel to the House of Architecture in Madrid and in October, to the Architekturzentrum in Vienna.