The Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) – the continent’s newest biennial architecture accolade – returns for its second edition and to announce its much anticipated winners for the 2014/2015 cycle. That nod goes to Grace Farms in Connecticut, by Japanese architectural powerhouse SANAA.
Selected by a jury of architects, editors and academics – who scoured the continent for the best built works of the past two years – Grace Farms had to fend off competition from five worthy contenders: Angelo Bucci’s Weekend House in São Paulo, Brazil; Grafton Architects’ UTEC Campus in Lima, Peru; the Pachacamac Museum by Llosa Cortegana in Lima, Peru; Alberto Kalach’s Tower 41 in Mexico City; and Michael Maltzan’s Star Apartments in Los Angeles, USA. The Fort York Visitor Centre by Patkau Architects and Kearns Mancini Architects, Toronto, Canada was also originally considered for the shortlist, but the jury later decided to delay its nomination to the next cycle – 2016/17 – 'to allow for the commencement of its programming and for the maturation of its landscape and integration into the surrounding neighborhood'.
SANAA's Pritzker Prize-winning founders, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, were presented with the award by Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, David Kohler and Phyllis Lambert at a dedicated benefit dinner in Chicago earlier tonight.
Launched by Wiel Arets – the Illinois Institute of Technology's College of Architecture Dean – in 2013, the award aims to not only promote and encourage great architecture from that specific part of the world, but also to nurture a network of architects, academics and schools across North, Central and South America.
The Prize’s winner is announced biannually in conjunction with MCHAP.emerge, the platform’s corresponding biennial prize for the best built work from an emerging architecture practice. The honour this year went to Pavilion on the Zocalo in Mexico City, by local architecture studio Productora, revealed during a symposium in spring 2016.
The newly established MCHAP student prize is also part of today's celebrations, awarded to (a)typical office by Tommy Kyung-Tae Nam and Yun Yun from the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan.
Winner: completed in 2015, Grace Farms is located in New Canaan, Connecticut, USA
Nominee: Torre 41 by Alberto Kalach, Mexico City.
Nominee: Torre 41 by Alberto Kalach, Mexico City.
Nominee: Pachacamac Museum by Llosa Cortegana Arquitectos, Lima, Peru.
Nominee: Pachacamac Museum by Llosa Cortegana Arquitectos, Lima, Peru.
Nominee: Star Apartments by Michael Maltzan, Los Angeles, USA.
Nominee: Star Apartments by Michael Maltzan, Los Angeles, USA.
Nominee: UTEC Campus by Grafton Architects, Lima, Peru
Nominee: UTEC Campus by Grafton Architects, Lima, Peru
Nominee: Weekend House by Angelo Bucci, São Paulo, Brazil.
Nominee: Weekend House by Angelo Bucci, São Paulo, Brazil.
The Fort York Visitor Centre by Patkau Architects and Kearns Mancini Architects, Toronto, Canada was also originally considered for the shortlist, but the jury later decided to delay its nomination to the next cycle.
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize website
-
Leila Bartell’s cloudscapes are breezily distorted, a response to an evermore digital world‘Memory Fields’ is the London-based artist’s solo exhibition at Tristan Hoare Gallery (until 25 July 2025)
-
Absolut is reviving Keith Haring’s 1986 poser with a vibrant limited-edition bottleThe Absolut Haring Artist-Edition bottle, released 40 years after Haring collaborated with the vodka brand, features his bold lines, electric colours and dancing figures
-
This hidden London culinary haven is a refreshing take on the steakhouseMr Porter, a new steakhouse, bar and lounge in central London's swish Mayfair, is a hidden haven of strong flavours and minimalist dining
-
Tour this fire-resilient minimalist weekend retreat in CaliforniaA minimalist weekend retreat was designed as a counterpoint to a San Francisco pied-à-terre; Edmonds + Lee Architects’ Amnesia House in Napa Valley is a place for making memories
-
A New Zealand house on a rugged beach exemplifies architect Tom Kundig's approach in rich, yet understated luxuryThis coastal home, featured in 'Tom Kundig: Complete Houses', a new book launch in the autumn by Monacelli Press, is a perfect example of its author's approach to understated luxury. We spoke to Tom Kundig, the architect behind it
-
The 2025 Obel Award is scooped not by an architect or building, but by a movementHouseEurope! has won the 2025 Obel Award; the non-profit organisation has been advocating for ecological and social transformation in the built environment
-
Tour architect Paul Schweikher’s house, a Chicago midcentury masterpieceNow hidden in the Chicago suburbs, architect Paul Schweikher's former home and studio is an understated midcentury masterpiece; we explore it, revisiting a story from the Wallpaper* archives, first published in April 2009
-
The world of Bart Prince, where architecture is born from the inside outFor the Albuquerque architect Bart Prince, function trumps form, and all building starts from the inside out; we revisit a profile from the Wallpaper* archive, first published in April 2009
-
Is embracing nature the key to a more fire-resilient Los Angeles? These landscape architects think soFor some, an executive order issued by California governor Gavin Newsom does little to address the complexities of living within an urban-wildland interface
-
Hop on this Fire Island Pines tour, marking Pride Month and the start of the summerA Fire Island Pines tour through the work of architecture studio BOND is hosted by The American Institute of Architects New York in celebration of Pride Month; join the fun
-
A Laurel Canyon house shows off its midcentury architecture bonesWe step inside a refreshed modernist Laurel Canyon house, the family home of Annie Ritz and Daniel Rabin of And And And Studio
