The Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize 2023 winner has just been revealed, and the gong has gone to the renovation and expansion of the Anahuacalli Museum in Mexico City by Taller | Mauricio Rocha. Awarded every two years by the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) College of Architecture, the prize ‘recognises a built work in the Americas that best embodies architectural excellence’.
The Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize 2023 winner: the Anahuacalli Museum by Taller | Mauricio Rocha
The members of the jury, headed by chair and architect Sandra Barclay, were impressed by the project's sensitivity and the 'open dialogue' it creates with the existing Anahuacalli Museum. The historical structure was conceived by artist Diego Rivera in the 1940s and built in collaboration with architect Juan O’Gorman. Situated in Mexico City's volcanic landscape of Pedregal de San Ángel, both old and new elements respect and celebrate their context.
The winner was chosen from a shortlist of six pieces of work, including Guadalupe Market by Colectivo C733; The Menil Drawing Institute by Johnston Marklee; Park in the Prado neighbourhood by Mayor’s Office of Medellín – Secretary of Infrastructure; The Polygon Gallery by Patkau Architects; and Valois Housing Building by José Cubilla.
Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) director Dirk Denison said: 'All six finalists give more than what is asked for. They set the stage for a more generous future. The MCHAP finalists all do more with less. This is the charge they answer and the lesson they offer.'
'Mauricio Rocha proposes a typology of independent and permeable volumes, giving continuity to the floor of the existing plaza and, in turn, the rough and irregular topography of the natural lava flow,' Barclay added.
As a result of his win, Mauricio Rocha will receive $50,000 in funding 'toward research and the development of a publication as well as the MCHAP Chair of Architecture at IIT.'
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors' picks of the weekThe London office of Wallpaper* had a very important visitor this week. Elsewhere, the team traverse a week at Frieze
-
Alexandre de Betak on getting lost to find himself in LondonAs the world-renowned artistic director opens his first personal studio in London during Frieze Week, Alexandre de Betak reflects on leaving the fashion runway behind to explore light, space and creative freedom
-
Step inside Faye Toogood's intimate cabinet of curiosities at PAD LondonFor PAD London 2025, (until 19 October) Faye Toogood presents The Magpie’s Nest with Friedman Benda
-
Explore Tom Kundig’s unusual houses, from studios on wheels to cabins slotted into bouldersThe American architect’s entire residential portfolio is the subject of a comprehensive new book, ‘Tom Kundig: Complete Houses’
-
Ballman Khaplova creates a light-filled artist’s studio in upstate New YorkThis modest artist’s studio provides a creative with an atelier and office in the grounds of an old farmhouse, embedding her practice in the surrounding landscape
-
The most important works of modernist landscape architecture in the USModernist landscapes quite literally grew alongside the modern architecture movement. Field specialist and advocate Charles A. Birnbaum takes us on a tour of some of the finest examples
-
Jeanne Gang’s single malt whisky decanter offers a balance ‘between utility and beauty’The architect’s whisky decanter, 'Artistry in Oak', brings a sculptural dimension to Gordon & MacPhail's single malt
-
An idyllic slice of midcentury design, the 1954 Norton House has gone on the marketNorton House in Pasadena, carefully crafted around its sloping site by Buff, Straub & Hensman, embodies the Californian ideal of the suburban modern house embedded within a private landscape
-
Herzog & de Meuron and Piet Oudolf unveil Calder Gardens in PhiladelphiaThe new cultural landmark presents Alexander Calder’s work in dialogue with nature and architecture, alongside the release of Jacques Herzog’s 'Sketches & Notes'. Ellie Stathaki interviews Herzog about the project.
-
Meet Studio Zewde, the Harlem practice that's creating landscapes 'rooted in cultural narratives, ecology and memory'Ahead of a string of prestigious project openings, we check in with firm founder Sara Zewde
-
The best of California desert architecture, from midcentury gems to mirrored dwellingsWhile architecture has long employed strategies to cool buildings in arid environments, California desert architecture developed its own distinct identity –giving rise, notably, to a wave of iconic midcentury designs
