EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture shortlists five projects – but none are from UK

British architects including David Chipperfield, Foreign Office Architects and Zaha Hadid have missed out on being shortlisted for the prestigious Mies van der Rohe Award 2009.

The biannual EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture, named after the iconic modernist architect Mies van der Rohe, carries a cash prize of €60,000 and is considered one of the most prestigious prizes in architecture.

However, even though 23 British architects were nominated for a total of 37 buildings - including five of Chipperfield's - none made it onto today's shortlist of five.

The shortlist is:

  • Atelier Marc Barani, for the Multimodal Centre - Nice tramway, Nice, France
  • Massimiliano Fuksas Architecture, for the Zenith Music Hall, Strasbourg, France
  • Grafton Architects, for the University Luigi Bocconi, Milan, Italy
  • Snøhetta, for the Norwegian Opera and Ballet House, in Oslo, Norway
  • RCR Aranda Pigem Vilalta Arquitectes, for the library, senior citizens' centre and city block core zone, Sant Antoni's District, Barcelona, Spain.

Zaha Hadid was the last British architect to win the prize, for her car park and terminus at Hoenheim North in 2003. Other winners include Foster + Partners, for Stansted airport (1990), and Grimshaw for Waterloo station (1994).

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