The DAM Prize for Architecture in Germany is a highly regarded, but also somewhat strange award.

With the prize that the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) has been awarding since 2007, it is more or less as if renowned mobility experts were to get together and select the motor vehicle of the select year.

This time, the jury for the architecture award had around a hundred ambitious buildings to appraise, from a Muslim wash and prayer house in Hamburg to a cyclist bridge in Darmstadt to the Adidas headquarters in Herzogenaurach.

Matthew Alexander

Deputy head of department in the features section.

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In the end, four projects were shortlisted, including the John Cranko Ballet School in Stuttgart, the new building of the Springer Group in Berlin and three research houses in Bad Aibling, which are used to scientifically test whether concrete, solid masonry or wood are the best suitable for energy-efficient construction in apartment buildings.

The price does not recognize subcategories.

Nor are there any uniform criteria that would make the jury's decision comprehensible.

What it boils down to is that the committee, which is made up entirely of insiders from the architectural business, selects a building that, in its opinion, provides a creative and conceptually convincing answer to an urgent building task of the time.

On the fact that the Axel Springer campus of Rem Koolhaas, who is widely idolized in professional circles, but who is less strict in the selection of his builders than some of his disciples would like, would not win the DAM prize, one would have an annual salary without risk by Mathias Döpfner.

Conversely, it is not surprising that in the end (and as in 2018) the project of a cooperative won, as this form of building ownership is considered by many to be the potentially best answer to the challenges for the housing market in large cities: cheap, dense and to build collectively, ideally ecologically sustainable and with flexible floor plans.

Not a nice house

The Munich project with the teasing name "San Riemo" is not a pleasantly designed house by common and even more so by Bavarian standards: Its exterior, reminiscent of commercial buildings from the 1960s, consists of white corrugated iron on two sides and polycarbonate panels on the third, longest front. that shield the conservatories from the street.

The fact that turquoise façade elements and curtains bring “a cheerful touch” to the surroundings of Messestadt Riem, according to the jury, says more about the monotonous new development area on the former Munich airport site than about San Riemo.