Check out some of the amazing projects nominated for the EU Mies Award

383 architectural works have been nominated for the 2019 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture—Mies van der Rohe Award, which recognizes top-notch design excellence and significant contributions from European architectural professionals. Established by the European Commission and the Barcelona City Hall in 1987, the biennial award is considered to be the highest honor in European architecture for works completed within the past two years.

In 2017, the award went to the renovation of a historic housing megablock in Amsterdam, highlighting the challenges of housing and heritage. For 2019, the Prize will continue this dialogue with 24% of its nominations intervening with heritage works and another 14% built in historic contexts. 

Spanning from Portugal on the west, and Tbilisi on the east, projects this year hail from 38 different countries, with Armenia, Kosovo and Tunisia competing for the first time this year. With 27 projects, Spain has the highest number of built works in the running, followed by Belgium and France with 21 and 19 nominated projects, respectively. In January, the list of 383 works will be trimmed to a shortlist of 40, and then down to 5 finalists in April. 

Below, take a look at some of our favorites. 

↑ Museum Tonofenfabrik in Lahr, Germany; designed by Heneghan Peng Architects. 

↑ Exhibition Hall 09-12 in Dornbirn, Austria; designed by Marte.Marte Architekten. 

↑ Desert City in Madrid, Spain; designed by GARCIAGERMAN ARQUITECTOS.

↑ eCABS Booking Offine in St Julian's, Malta; designed by Valentino Architects

↑ MO-Modern Art Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania; designed by Studio Daniel Libeskind.

↑ Storey's Field Centre and Eddington Nursery in Cambridge, United Kingdom; designed by MUMA.

↑ De Krook library in Ghent, Belgium; designed by RCR Arquitectes/Coussée & Goris architecten.

↑ Amos Rex Art Museum in Helsinki, Finland; designed by JKMM Architects.

↑ Rijnstraat 8, renovation Ministry Building in the Hague, the Netherlands; designed by O.M.A.

↑ Visitor center park Vijversburg in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands; designed by Studio MAKS.

↑ Cabin Nerskogen in Rennebu, Norway; designed by Vardaugen.

↑ The renewal of the Palatinus Bath in Budapest, Hungary; designed by Archikon.

↑ Bremer Landesbank in Bremen, Germany; designed by Caruso St John Architects.