Presented on 24 November 2023 at the closing ceremony of the fourth edition of the Basque Country Architecture Biennial in San Sebastian, this new prize aims to highlight the architecture of collective housing in Europe and its impact on society, while emphasising the importance of implementing housing policies.

Every two years, the prize will be awarded to innovative public or private collective housing projects, assessed by an international jury. It is open to all those involved in urban development, from professionals to residents, landlords, project managers, developers and promoters. Entries may include projects recently completed in any of the 46 countries that make up the Council of Europe.

To support the creation of the prize, an advisory committee has been set up, made up of four internationally renowned experts:
Bernard Blanc, urban planner and former director of a public planning and housing company,
Aurora Fernández Per editor-in-chief of a+t architecture,
Carmen Imbernón, General Secretary of Europan Spain,
Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani architect and architectural historian.

The call for entries, the full rules and the members of the international jury are published on the prize website: europeancollectivehousingaward.eu.

The winning projects are due to be announced in July 2024.

The jury for the first edition of the European Collective Housing Prize, created on the initiative of the Basque Country Institute of Architecture and arc en rêve, will be chaired by Anne Lacaton, winner of the 2021 Pritzker Prize, and will include Kristiaan Borret, bouwmeester master architect from Brussels, Fernanda Canales, architect from Mexico City, Emanuele Coccia, philosopher from Paris and Christian Hadaler, co-founder of the Grossstadt cooperative in Munich. The call for entries is open until 2 April.