The 5th Mies van der Rohe Pavilion Award for European Architecture, and the winner Dominique Perrault, with the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris.
The practice of architecture is an idea that takes form, an idea that leads us much further than a mere assembly of parts. Architecture is quality, function, aesthetics and culture of the environment on a human scale, through appropriate use of materials and structures: spaces that sustain the living and working of man, long lasting, consuming little energy, flexible in their use, respectful of the context, projected toward the future while acknowledging their debt to the past. Not all buildings are good products of architecture; the volume illustrates all the projects submitted for the 5th Mies van der Rohe Pavilion Award for European Architecture, and the winner Dominique Perrault, with the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, summing up all the constituent elements of quality architecture, a unified idea made concrete in spite of the diversities of places and functions, a social and cultural phenomenon that responds to the expectations of the population.