EUmiers: i 21 candidates for the most important architecture award

Every two years, An interesting thing happens in the world of architecture: we try to take stock of what is really happening in the contemporary European project. Not in theory, but through real buildings, built and used. This is the meaning of EUmies Awards 2026, the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award. By observing the selected projects we understand the emerging directions and themes of the discipline.

Edition 2026 starts from important numbers: 410 selected works from the three-year period 2023-2025 in 40 European countries,. Inside this great map of contemporary architecture there are also 21 Italian candidates.

There are not only great museums or iconic buildings. Many projects talk about schools, architectural recoveries, public spaces, productive architecture and small interventions in the landscape. In other words, everyday architecture. The one that really changes the way we experience cities.

What is the EUmies Awards

The EUmies Awards they are the point of reference for those who want to understand what is happening in European architecture today.
They are held every two years thanks to the collaboration between the European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe of Barcelona.

The idea behind the award is simple: observe how buildings and spaces change in Europe. We don't just look at the beauty of the shapes. It is also considered how a building lives in its context, whether it improves people's lives and how sustainable it is. In practice, the prize rewards concrete projects. Not just perfect pictures in a magazine, but buildings that really work in everyday life.

For example, a redeveloped school or square may seem like small projects, but they tell a lot about the way we think about collective spaces today. And it is precisely this attention to concreteness that distinguishes the EUmies Awards from other more "academic" awards.

EUmies Awards 2026: an observatory on European architecture

The 410 nominated works agli EUmies Awards 2026 they tell a very varied panorama. There are great cultural interventions, urban infrastructure, residential construction, but also smaller and experimental projects. In recent years, among other things, the prize began to value more and more regeneration and reuse interventions, sign of an important change in the way of doing architecture.

Those who design today know this well: building from scratch is often the easiest part. The real challenge is intervene on the existing, work within complex contexts, find new uses for abandoned buildings.

Many of the projects selected for the 2026 they go precisely in this direction.

I 21 candidate Italian projects

Within this European selection, Italy participates with 21 projects. It's not a huge number, but it is enough to give an idea of ​​what is moving in the Italian architectural panorama. Here is the complete list of nominated works:

• Gallaratese Light Point – AOUMM
• The Project of Time – restoration of the former Church of San Barbaziano – Studio Poggioli
• Nursery school in Sforzacosta – BDR Bureau
• Narrow House – Lorenzo Guzzini Architecture
• House of Belmondo – Horizontal / The Cuttlefish Revolution
• The Citadel of Hospitality – CZA Cino Zucchi Architetti
• Bicocca Superlab – Balance Architecture
• National Coffee – AMAA
• NC Headquarters – bdfarchitetti
• Naples Metro Station Business Center – EMBT Architects
• Bicocca Pavilion – Piuarch
• Stones Venue – Associates Architecture
• Normann Belvedere Village – Francesco Careri
• Guado al Tasso winery – asv3-architectural workshop
• Bonfiglioli Headquarters – Peter Pichler Architecture
• Astronomical Pole – Studio Marco Castelletti
• Badhaus – bergmeisterwolf / Counterpoint
• Twin schools – Enrico Molteni Architecture
• Corte Renèe – Bricolo Falsarella associates
• House in Lottano – Emanuele Scaramellini Architect
• Borsoni Theater – ARW Associates / Brescia Infrastructure

At a glance you immediately understand one thing: there is not a single contemporary Italian architecture. There are very different languages, from Alpine minimalism to more complex urban interventions.

Three trends emerging from Italian projects

Looking carefully at the list of candidate projects EUmies Awards 2026, some common lines can be identified.

1. The return of the project to the built environment: more and more architects are working on existing buildings. Il restoration of the former Church of San Barbaziano, for example, it's an interesting case: a historic building that is reinterpreted with contemporary sensitivity without losing the memory of the place.
2. Architecture for the community: schools, cultural centers, public spaces. Architecture returns to deal with the social dimension. An example is the Nursery school in Sforzacosta, where the project works a lot on the relationship between internal spaces, courtyards and landscape. It's not just a school building, but an educational environment.
3. The dialogue with the landscape: several projects work with great attention on relationship between architecture and territory. Come House in Lottano, designed by Emanuele Scaramellini in the Alps. Here the architecture does not try to impose itself on the landscape, but to dialogue with it through materials, proportions and orientation.