Aalto Medal to Nieto Sobejano

Nieto and Sobejano are the twelfth recipients of the medal, which started in 1967 with an award to Aalto and has been given since every three to five years. Other recipients include James Stirling (1978), Jørn Utzon (1982), Tadao Ando (1985), Alvaro Siza (1988), Glenn Murcutt (1992) and Steven Holl (1998). Most recently, Portuguese architect Paulo David won in 2012. The announcement of the Nieto Sobejano's win came on the occasion of a seminar marking Architecture Day at Helsinki Hall on 3 February 2015.

The jury selecting the duo – the first architects from Spain to win the medal – commended their work as demonstrating "how an architect’s cultural background can inspire architecture of outstanding quality and expressive power. Nieto and Sobejano’s work has a primal energy ranking it among the world’s most compelling statements and groundbreaking achievements in architecture." Projects named in the announcement include the Contemporary Art Center (Córdoba, Spain, 2013) shown here, the Auditorium and Convention Centre of Aragon Expo (Zaragoza, Spain, 2008) and the Museum & Research Centre Madinat Al Zahra (Córdoba, Spain, 2009).

A fourth project noted in the announcement most directly relates to Aalto's home country, their competition-winning design for the Arvo Pärt Centre building at the Museum of Estonian Architecture in Tallinn. The Aalto Medal commends in this project how the architects have "adapted their philosophy to Nordic latitudes and a northern boreal setting." Further, to put the award in the context of its namesake, jury Chair Rainer Mahlamäki stated: "Their portfolio is varied and instantly recognizable, maintaining outstanding standards of creative excellence, informed by a philosophy of respect for human life and the environment. Nieto & Sobejano proudly carry on a tradition of humanism in architecture."