Six Finalists for 2018 MCHAP

John Hill

2. August 2018

All photos courtesy of IIT

The six finalists for the third Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) were announced earlier this week at an event in Detroit, Michigan. Founded by the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in 2014, The Americas Prize awards "the best architectural work in the Americas realized in the preceding two years."

The 2018 MCHAP jury* selected the finalists from the 139 buildings nominated in February 2018. All projects were completed January 2016 and December 2017.

The six finalists, highlighted below with photos:

Edificio E, University of Piura, Barclay & Crousse Architecture, Piura, Peru
IMS Paulista, Andrade Morettin Arquitetos Associados, São Paulo, Brazil
SESC 24 de Maio, Paulo Mendes da Rocha and MMBB Arquitetos, São Paulo, Brazil
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Freelon Adjaye Bond / Smith Group, Washington, DC, USA
Teopanzolco Cultural Center, PRODUCTORA and Isaac Broid, Cuernavaca, Mexico
True North, Edwin Chan / EC3, Detroit, USA

Summing up the half-dozen finalists, jury president Ricky Burdett said, "We have come away with a sense of optimism. Architecture in the early twenty-first century in the Americas is alive and well. There are clear signals that the design profession is responding to the profound social and environmental challenges of our age with confidence, imagination, and modesty."

The architects of the winning project, to be announced at a symposium on 10 October 2018 at IIT, will be recognized with the MCHAP Award, the MCHAP Chair in IIT's College of Architecture, and $50,000 to fund research and a publication.

Winners of the previous MCHAPs include Álvaro Siza's Iberê Camargo Foundation and Herzog & de Meuron's 1111 Lincoln Road in the inaugural cycle and SANAA's River Building at Grace Farms in the second cycle.

Edificio E, University of Piura, Barclay & Crousse Architecture, Piura, Peru

IMS Paulista, Andrade Morettin Arquitetos Associados, São Paulo, Brazil

SESC 24 de Maio, Paulo Mendes da Rocha and MMBB Arquitetos, São Paulo, Brazil

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Freelon Adjaye Bond / Smith Group, Washington, DC, USA

Teopanzolco Cultural Center, PRODUCTORA and Isaac Broid, Cuernavaca, Mexico

True North, Edwin Chan / EC3, Detroit, USA

*The 2018 MCHAP jury is made up of Ricky Burdett (Jury President, Professor of Urban Studies and Director of LSE Cities and the Urban Age Programme, London), Jose Castillo (Principal, Arquitectura 911sc, Mexico City), Ron Henderson (Professor and Director of the Master of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago), Rodrigo Pérez de Arce (Professor, Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Estudios Urbanos, Pontificia Universidad Católica, Santiago de Chile), Claire Weisz (Founding Principal, WXY, New York), Susan Conger-Austin (Coordinator of International Affairs and Assistant Dean External Affairs, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago), Dirk Denison (MCHAP Director, Professor at College of Architecture, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago), and Sasha Zanko (MCHAP Coordinator, Chicago).