Grafton Architects just can’t seem to stop winning awards. Following its Pritzker Prize win in 2020 and Stirling Prize win in 2021, the Irish firm has now won the 2022 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award for its Town House university building. The studio was hailed as the winner alongside Spanish firm Lacol, which won the Emerging Architecture prize for its La Borda Cooperative Housing.
Named after the famous architect, the Mies van der Rohe Award is a prestigious biennial celebration of EU architecture that’s been running since 1987. Previous winners include some of architecture’s biggest names, such as Foster + Partners, Zaha Hadid, and Lacaton and Vassal.
Grafton’s Town House, which is located in London and is part of Kingston University, represents the first time that a university has ever won the architecture prize since it was established. It’s also the last time entries from the UK will be eligible for consideration due to its decision to leave the EU bloc in January 2020.