420 projects nominated for the Mies Van der Rohe 2015 Award

Competition is already running high as expected for the Mies van der Rohe Award 2015 - European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture. A total of 420 projects will go head-to-head for the prestigious €60,000 prize. Established in 1987 by the European Commission and the Barcelona City Hall, the biennial award is regarded as the highest-ranking award in European architecture for works completed within the past two years.

The award was set up to recognize not only top-notch design excellence and significant contributions, but to also encourage design and technological innovation from European architectural professionals.

A €20,000 Emerging Architect Award will also be given to professionals beginning their careers. Last but not least, the 2015 edition will introduce the Young Talent Architecture Prize (YTAP) to current university students in Europe. YTAP will recognize the EU's best master's degree projects.

Scroll down further for a few of this year's competing prize projects.

Competing projects are nominated by independent experts across Europe as well as by members of the Architects’ Council of Europe, national architects’ associations, and the Advisory Committee of the Prize.