YTAA Presentation

EUmies Awards

YTAA, as (inherent) part of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award, is organised by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe with the support of the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. It is organised in partnership with the European Association for Architectural Education (EAAE) and the Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE-CAE); World Architects as a founding partner; the European Cultural Centre as a partner in Venice; sponsored by Jung, Jansen and Regent; and with the support of USM.

By bringing together the most talented graduated architects and some of the best architecture firms and institutions in Europe, the Winners of YTAA have the chance to develop strategies, synergies or complementarities with the firms and institutions of their interest/choice.

YTAA Concept

What is it about?

YTAA aims to support the talent of recently graduated Architects, Urban Planners and Landscape Architects, who will be responsible for transforming our environment in the future. YTAA has emerged from an interest in the initial stages of these students’ development and a desire to support their talent as they enter into the professional world.

Schools of architecture, urban planning and landscape architecture (Schools) in Europe and other parts of the world provide future professionals with the ability to improve our social, technological and political environment through architecture. In recent years, they have encouraged student and information exchanges under EU programmes such as Erasmus Mundus and Erasmus+. The EU Mies Award (European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award) promotes high quality work amongst emerging and established architects by acknowledging the value of good buildings.

YTAA is based on Graduation Projects and strives to draw the academic and professional realms closer together. Most of these projects will not be built, but they nevertheless require all the skills that the students have learned during their training: arts, history, aesthetics, technology, sciences, etc. YTAA is therefore based on achievements in these disciplines.

YTAA promotes debates between students and professors from each participating School to choose those projects that will represent it. The presence of a YTAA Representative in each School will be essential to summarise this internal debate by nominating the projects that will participate in the award.

The involvement of the Advisory Committee¹ members and the Partners, as well as the debate and decisions of the Jury will reflect the complexity of the next steps. The Jury will decide on: YTAA Nominees – Shortlisted – Finalists – Winners.

The competition inherent in any prize of this nature and the involvement of professors in the training of future professionals are core aspects that will ensure the success of YTAA and the selection of four excellent Winners for the Award. YTAA also benefits from the participation of the Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE), the European Association for Architectural Education (EAAE) along with the universities and the invaluable involvement of the Advisory Committee of the EU Mies Award.

YTAA seeks to encourage the cross-pollinization of the outputs from different Schools and to improve these architects’ skills from the start of their professional careers. It supports entrepreneurial projects by young architects when they enter the professional world, an essential part of the projection of their profiles at this early stage. These first steps of young professionals will allow a two-way understanding of this turning point in their lives.

1. The Advisory Committee is composed of the most prestigious European cultural organisations in the field of architecture, urban planning and landscape architecture, which work closely with the Fundació Mies van der Rohe in the award process. The Advisory Committee members are: Architekturzentrum Wien, Vienna; The Berlage, Delft; Dansk Arkitektur Center, Copenhagen; DESSA, Ljubljana; Deutsches Architekturmuseum, Frankfurt; Eesti Arhitektuurimuuseum, Tallinn; Fundació Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona; Hungarian Contemporary Architecture Centre, Budapest; Institut français d’architecture, Paris; Museum of Architecture, Wroclaw; Museum of Architecture and Design, Ljubljana; Nasjonalmuseet for Kunst, Arkitektur og Design, Oslo; RIBA Trust, London; Suomen Rakennustaiteen Museo, Helsinki; Triennale di Milano, Milan.

YTAA Process

Who & How?

The nominated Graduation projects must be from the two years previous to the year

of the Award. YTAA 2020 will accept projects presented and approved by the respective Schools between January 1^st, 2018 and December 31^st, 2019. The Schools must be from countries participating in the Creative Europe programme. Furthermore, to stimulate the competitiveness and quality of European Schools, a number of other Schools from the European Territory and from selected Guest Countries outside it will be invited to participate in each cycle.

Schools will nominate Graduation Projects that will participate in each edition of YTAA through an internal selection process.

Four Winners will be chosen by an international Jury from among twelve Finalists, and a group of Shortlisted Works will also be selected in order to illustrate different ways of working, designing and communicating.

In order to participate, Schools must offer a professional architecture diploma. Architecture includes architecture design, urban design and landscape architecture. Each School will select candidates for the YTAA through an internal debate, which should take into account:

• The enthusiasm of the students
  • The professorship board
  • The students’ board
  • The cultural and communication departments

Nominations for works to be considered for YTAA will be put forward by the Representative of each School eligible to participate in the Award.

The number of designs that each School can nominate will be in accordance with the total number of students of the School²:

Under 1.000 students: 2 designs;
Between 1.000 – 2.000 students: 4 designs;
Between 2.000-3.000 students: 6 designs;
More than 3.000 students: 8 designs.

The works proposed for the Award are not limited by scale or programme. The Jury selection for each biennial edition will represent an extensive overview of quality architectural design but the common denominator will remain the contribution that these designs make to the built environment.

This broad variety and complexity of projects will be reflected in the YTAA process and list of specifications:

1. YTAA will be granted to the author(s) of graduation projects made by architecture students from any of the participating schools. One – and a maximum of one – out of the four Winners will be from a country not participating in the Creative Europe Programme.

2. The number of students per School relates to the total number of students enrolled/registered per academic year. The number that should be taken into account is the 2019-2020 academic year.

• YTAA is open to all the designs completed and approved in eligible Schools from the two years previous³ to the year of the Award. YTAA 2020 will accept projects presented and approved between January 1^st, 2018 and December 31^st, 2019. The Schools must be from countries participating in the Creative Europe programme⁴. Furthermore, to stimulate the competitiveness and quality of European Schools, a number of other Schools from the European Territory⁵ and from selected Guest Countries⁶ outside it will be invited to participate in each cycle.

• YTAA will be awarded every two years following the decisions of a Jury composed of renowned specialists representing diverse schools and trends in the fields of architecture and architectural critique.

4. After taking into account the recommendations of the Advisory Committee, ACE-CAE, EAAE and World Architects, the Fundació Mies van der Rohe will appoint the Jury of five members. The Jury will hold one meeting, which will be the decisive one.

• Following the analysis of information submitted for each of the proposed designs and the subsequent debate, the Jury will draw up a Shortlist of approximately 40 projects.

• Following the analysis of information submitted for each of the proposed designs and the subsequent debate, the Jury will draw up a list of a maximum of twelve finalist designs, four of which will be awarded the YTAA.

• The works to be awarded the YTAA will be selected by Jury agreement or, if not possible, by absolute majority vote of the Jury members.

• The Director of the Fundació Mies van der Rohe will carry out the functions of Secretary of the Jury, without the right to vote.

• YTAA 2020 will accept projects presented and approved by Schools between January 1^st 2018 to December 31^st 2019.

• This includes:
• Member States of the European Union: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom
• the following EFTA countries: Iceland, Norway
• the following Western Balkan countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina,  Montenegro, North Macedonia, Republic of Serbia.
• the following countries from the European Neighbourhood Policy: Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Tunisia, Ukraine

• The countries from the European Territory include:
• other ENP countries: Azerbaijan, Belarus
• other EFTA countries: Liechtenstein, Switzerland
• Russia, Turkey.

6. Guest countries for the 2020 edition are Brazil, Chile and Mexico. Brazil and Mexico are among the 10 Strategic Partners of the EU.

9. YTAA may not be declared vacant. There will be four indivisible awards for this edition. Acceptance by the authors of the Award entails prior acceptance of the Rules.

10. YTAA will be awarded in a Granting Ceremony that will take place in Venice together with an exhibition and the presentation of the catalogue.

1. For the purpose of selecting Nominees, the following procedure will be followed:

1. The Fundació Mies van der Rohe will disseminate the YTAA Rules and will contact the Schools that can participate according to point 2.
   1. Each School that wants to participate will fill in the online “School Registration Form”.
   1. The YTAA Representative of each School will be responsible for nominating the designs for each edition of the YTAA through the online “School Nominees Registration Form”.
   1. The Nominees will be asked to fill in the online “Submission of Documentation” form, consisting of basic information, credits for the design as well as written and graphic documents.

The authors of the Shortlisted designs will be asked to send higher resolution materials. The exact specifications will be outlined in detail in the “Guidelines for Submission of Collection Documentation”, which will be sent to the authors along with the official letter from the Fundació Mies van der Rohe informing them of the shortlisting of their designs.

1. To ensure compliance with the general objectives of the Award, the Jury, subject to consultation and agreement of the holding institutions, may amend these Rules if and when a situation, unforeseen in the aforementioned Articles, makes it necessary.

YTAA Award

Why participate?

All nominated designs will be published online and, in a catalogue, and will become part of the Archive of the YTAA as recognition of their authors and the Schools.

The four Winners will be supported in the creation of a network with the architects and critics involved in the EU Mies Award. They will receive a diploma and 5.000€ each; a profile in World Architects; furniture from USM to organise their work space; their designs will be shown in the YTAA 2020 traveling exhibition.

Finalists and Shortlisted participants will also be acknowledged, and their Schools will receive special recognition.

YTAA will connect the best recently graduated architects (Winners and Finalists) with the most active and enthusiastic professionals who are building and creating debate in Europe. Following the participative nature of YTAA, all those involved will be acknowledged:

YTAA Participating Schools

YTAA stimulates debates and links between Schools and architecture institutions, strengthening their prestige and identification across the European territory and beyond.

YTAA will give special recognition to the Schools of the four Winning projects.

YTAA Nominees

All designs will be published online and will become part of the Archive of the YTAA as recognition to their authors. They will also be published in the YTAA catalogue.

YTAA Shortlist

The Shortlisted authors will:

· receive a profile in World Architects

· be presented in the YTAA traveling exhibition

· have their project published in the YTAA catalogue

· receive a diploma

Twelve YTAA Finalists

The Finalist authors will:

• receive a profile in World Architects
• have the chance to present their work during the event in the context of La Biennale di Venezia
• be presented in the YTAA traveling exhibition
• have their project published in the YTAA catalogue
• receive a diploma

Four YTAA Winners

The Winning students will:

• be supported in the creation of a network with the architects and critics involved in the EU Mies Award (European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award). To do so they will receive 5.000€ each, and
• have the chance to present their work during the event in Venice in the context of La Biennale di Venezia
• receive a profile in World Architects
• be presented in the YTAA traveling exhibition
• have their project published in the YTAA catalogue
• receive USM furniture to design their work space
• receive a diploma

Each Winner will define a YTAA Plan of Action, which they will present on reception of the Award, and will deliver a YTAA Final Report outlining the relevant activities and the benefits of the year-long experience.

Glossary

School
Faculty, institution, or department specializing in architecture, urban planning or landscape architecture.

Graduation Projects
Designs developed by students at Schools that enable them to become Architects, Urban Planners and/or Landscape Architects. Graduation Projects for YTAA cannot be written essays.

YTAA Representative
Each participating School should propose a person in charge of coordinating the process at the School and coordinate the results with the YTAA team.

Advisory Committee
The YTAA functions in association with the Advisory Committee of the European Union Prize for Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award. It advises the YTAA team offering innovative views and dynamic perspectives.

YTAA Nominee
A candidate selected by a participating School for YTAA. The number of Nominees for each School and academic year is described in the chapter “YTAA Process Who and How?” of the Rules.

YTAA Shortlist
Selection of nominated Graduation Projects drawn up by the Jury. Approximately 10% of the Nominated designs will make up the Shortlist.

YTAA Finalists
Selected candidates from the Shortlist by the Jury, which potentially qualify as Winners. The number of Finalists for YTAA 2020 is twelve.

YTAA Winners
The Graduation Projects chosen by the Jury to win each edition of YTAA. The number of Winners for YTAA 2020 is four.

European territory
The continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. YTAA recognises as European all the Schools located within this geographic territory.

Schools from Guest Countries
Together with Creative Europe, the Fundació Mies van der Rohe will select a number of countries on the basis of specific (cultural) cooperation agreements between them and the European Union. The Schools from these countries will be able to participate in YTAA.

YTAA Plan of Action
The written document that will contain the sequence of steps that the four winners will follow, including activities to perform and strategies to follow. It will be presented to the Fundació Mies van der Rohe one month after receiving the Award and should reflect how they will use the tools that they will be provided with. The document will have a maximum length of 4,500 characters with spaces.

YTAA Final Report
The written document that will contain all the necessary information to recreate all the steps taken by each of the four Winners in the year-long professional experience after receiving the award. The report will have a maximum length of 4,500 characters with spaces and will contain the following sections: Abstract, Implementation of the Plan of Action and Results and Discussion.

YTAA Team
The award organising team at the Fundació Mies van der Rohe in Barcelona led by the YTAA Coordinator.

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