Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize Announces Finalist Projects by Emerging Practices

CHICAGO-August 15, 2024-The Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) at the College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology announces four projects completed in the years 2022 and 2023 in North and South America as finalists for the Cycle 5 MCHAP Prize for Emerging Practice (MCHAP.emerge).

The jury has chosen four projects from four countries from a nomination pool of over fifty built works designed by architects within the first ten years of their practice. These projects represent the wide range of types, scales, materiality, and site conditions in which the next generations of designers are working.

"The burgeoning talent emerging in the Americas is demonstrating a broadening understanding of the role architects and landscape architects take in the agency of making meaningful, innovative and beneficial contributions to the built environment," said prize director Dirk Denison. "We are extremely grateful to our committed jury for their careful consideration of the qualities that these projects demonstrated, what questions they ask, and how they are being answered." Denison also noted that this cycle's finalists represent a firm commitment to collaborative practice, increasingly across international borders.

"The finalists for the MCHAP Prize for Emerging Practice illustrate both a strong community-driven orientation and innovative architectural insertions into the everyday urban fabric of cities," noted MCHAP Cycle 5 jury chair Maurice Cox. "They are characterized by an increased interest in the idea of architecture as a prototype and by a keen sense in the economy of means through frugal yet expressive use of locally resourced materials and methods."

MCHAP.emerge 2024 Finalist Projects:

Community Productivo Center Las Tejedoras / Centro Comunitario Productivo Las Tejedoras
Natura Futura
Chongón, Guayas, Ecuador

Housing Building on Virrey Avilés Street / Edificio de departamentos en la calle Virrey Avilés
Juan Campanini-Josefina Sposito
Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Elementary School in Santa Cruz de Villacuri Community / Escuela Inicial 140 en la comunidad de Santa Cruz de Villacuri, Barrio Chino
Estudio Copla, Atelier Ander Bados
Santa Cruz de Villacuri, Salas, Ica, Peru

PILARES Cuicuilco
TO, +UdeB Arquitectos, AGENdA agencia de arquitectura
Cuicuilco, Mexico City, Mexico

The four finalists will convene at the inaugural MCHAP.emerge Conference on Critical Practice to be held at Mies van der Rohe's S. R. Crown Hall, the architectural heart of Illinois Institute of Technology's Main Campus. Co-organized with IIT Senior Lecturer Leslie Johnson, the summit will widen conversations around themes including ecology, technology, agency, and generation shifts, featuring open dialogue between IIT faculty and students, this cycle's jury and finalists, distinguished invited participants, and the international MCHAP network. The conference will culminate in an evening ceremony on Friday, September 27, to honor the cycle's MCHAP.emerge finalists and name the winning project. Conference and evening ceremony registration and details can be found at www.mchap.com.

Detailed project and firm profiles can be found in the supporting documents with this announcement. For further information, please visit www.mchap.com or contact Andrew Jiang at [email protected] / 608.515.0169.

Photo: Crown Hall

MCHAP Cycle 5 Jury

MCHAP Cycle 5 considers built works completed in the Americas in 2022 and 2023. The Cycle 5 Jury is composed of Jury Chair Maurice Cox, past planning director, City of Chicago, and Emma Bloomberg Professor in Residence of Urban Planning and Design at Harvard University; Giovanna Borasi, director, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal; Gregg Pasquarelli, founding principal, SHoP Architects, New York; Mauricio Rocha, founder, Taller | Mauricio Rocha, Mexico City, and author of the 2023 Americas Prize winner, the renovation of the Museo Anahuacalli; and Sofia von Ellrichshausen, founding partner, Pezo von Ellrichshausen, Concepción, Chile, and author of Poli House, the 2014 winner of the Prize for Emerging Practice.

MCHAP

The Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) is a biennial prize that acknowledges the best built works of architecture in the Americas. MCHAP was conceived by Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture in 2013. Visit http://www.mchap.co/about for more information.

Illinois Institute of Technology

Based in the global metropolis of Chicago, Illinois Tech was born to liberate the collective power of difference to advance technology and progress for all. It is the only tech-focused university in the city, and it stands at the crossroads of exploration and invention, advancing the future of Chicago and the world. It offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, computing, architecture, business, design, science and human sciences, and law. Illinois Tech students are guaranteed hands-on experiences, personalized mentorship, and job readiness through the university's one-of-a-kind Elevate program. Its graduates lead the state and much of the nation in economic prosperity. Its faculty and alumni built the Chicago skyline. And every day in the living lab of the city, Illinois Tech fuels breakthroughs that change lives. Illinois Tech is ranked in the top 25 on the Wall Street Journal's 2024 list of the 400 best colleges in America and is ranked #1 Illinois universities focused on career outcomes. Visit iit.edu for information on all available academic programs.

College of Architecture

The College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology builds on a legacy of disciplined experimentation in materials and technologies to educate and inspire the next generation of architects and landscape architects. From its landmark campus and home at S. R. Crown Hall, IIT Architecture champions an interdisciplinary approach to education and research that is simultaneously local and global in its impact. IIT Architecture students are educated to address complex, contemporary challenges of designing and constructing across all scales. Both faculty and students enjoy a longstanding relationship with professional practice in Chicago, a city with a vibrant history of innovation in architecture, design, landscape architecture, and urbanism. Visit arch.iit.edu.