Since 1988, the European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe of Barcelona have granted the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award every two years. From among the proposals submitted by the nominators – the experts, national architects’ associations and the Advisory Committee – for each edition, the jury members make their decisions about the Prize Winner, the Emerging Architect Special Mention and a broad selection of shortlisted works.

During these twenty-five years, the Foundation has organised thirteen award cycles and in the process has built an online database that documents the almost 2,500 works that have been nominated as well as an extensive archive consisting of photographs, drawings, digital and audiovisual material, as well as models.

The exhibition focuses on the models that represent some 170 projects that have been selected by the award juries since 1996.

The models are placed chronologically and face to face with a timeline of major trends and events – social, technological, economic and political – and photographs of the Prize Winners and the Emerging Architect Special Mentions’ works. Drawings of European architecture key works between 1988 and 1994 are presented together with a video that shows the selected works of the last edition of the Prize.

This archive represents the biggest collection of Contemporary Architecture in Europe.

Original Drawings by: OMA, Enric Miralles and Carme Pinós, Álvaro Siza Vieira, Norman Foster, Esteve Bonell and Francesc Rius, Nicholas Grimshaw, Jean Nouvel, Zaha Hadid, Oriol Bohigas, Josep Martorell and David Mackay and Rafael Moneo and Manuel de Solà-Morales.