David Chipperfield’s Neues Museum Receives 2011 Mies van der Rohe Award

The Neues Museum in Berlin is the winner of the 2011 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award, the European Commission and the Mies van der Rohe Foundation announced today. The building is a reconstruction, blending old and new, by UK architect Sir David Chipperfield.

Staircase Hall. ©Ute Zscharnt for David Chipperfield Architects.

Mohsen Mostafavi, Chair of the jury, said: “The rebuilding of the Neues Museum is an extraordinary achievement. Rarely have an architect and client succeeded in undertaking a work of such historic importance and complexity; especially one that involves both preservation and new building. The project raises and addresses many aesthetic, ethical, and technical issues. It is an exemplary demonstration of what collaboration can achieve in the context of contemporary European architectural practice.”

The 'Emerging Architect Special Mention' award goes to Ramon Bosch and Bet Capdeferro for the Collage House in Girona, Spain.

The award ceremony will take place on 20 June at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona.

Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, said: "My congratulations to our winners who have created two exceptional buildings. The Neues Museum brings the past and present together in an stunning mix of contemporary architecture, restoration and art. The Collage House in Girona is another remarkable renovation which fuses old and new materials in a harmonious whole."

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©Ute Zscharnt for David Chipperfield Architects.

East façade. ©Ute Zscharnt for David Chipperfield Architects

Greek Courtyard. ©Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz / DCA, photographer: Christian Richters

Egyptian Courtyard, Platform on level 2. ©Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz / DCA, photographer: Christian Richters

Room of the Niobids, View into the North Dome Room ©Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz / DCA, photographer: Ute Zscharnt

Section through the Egyptian and the Greek Courtyard. ©David Chipperfield Architects

Floor plan level 1. ©David Chipperfield Architects

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David Chipperfield

David Chipperfield was born in London in 1953 and studied architecture at the Kingston School of Art and the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London before working at the practices of Douglas Stephen, Richard Rogers and Norman Foster.

In 1985 he founded David Chipperfield Architects, which today has over 300 staff at its offices in London, Berlin, Milan and Shanghai.

David Chipperfield has taught and held conferences in Europe and the United States and has received honorary degrees from the universities of Kingston and Kent.

He is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and an honorary fellow of both the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA). In 2009 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and in 2010 he received a knighthood for services to architecture in the UK and Germany. In 2011 he received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Architecture and in 2013 the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association, while in 2021 he was appointed a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in recognition of a lifetime’s work.

In 2012 he curated the 13th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale.