HOUSEEUROPE! Wins this Year’s Obel Award: Not a Building – A Movement and a Call to Collective Action

Copenhagen, 17.06.2025 — HouseEurope!, the registered non-profit organisation, conceived as a pioneering policy lab and citizen-led initiative advocating for the social and ecological transformation of Europe’s built environment, has been awarded this year’s prestigious OBEL Award. Presented annually by OBEL, a foundation recognising and rewarding architecture’s potential to act as tangible agents of change, the OBEL Jury, reflecting on this year’s “Ready Made” focus, honours HouseEurope! for its spearheading role in raising awareness and mobilising public support for a paradigm shift in European construction and housing culture.

“HouseEurope! demonstrates the scale, agency, and responsibility inherent in architecture. As architects, we are not merely practitioners who receive and execute instructions—we can and should act as civic agents within the political and social frameworks to work towards the common good.” – Nathalie de Vries, MVRDV, Chair of the OBEL Jury

In an industry driven by polluting practices of demolition and for-profit development, HouseEurope! forefronts architecture as a tool for the political and public good. The goal is to pass new EU laws to make renovation and transformation of buildings easier, affordable and socially just. In doing so, HouseEurope! needs one million signatures across all EU member states until January 31, 2026, to bring the topic to the forefront of political discourse and promote a shift in values. Sign the petition here.

“Every minute, a building in Europe is destroyed—not by natural disasters, but by financial speculation. And while a few profit, we all pay the price: with rising rents and rising temperatures. We’re running out of time! HouseEurope! is a call to action: sign and support now to stop the demolition drama and renovate, don’t speculate!” – Olaf Grawert and Alina Kolar, HouseEurope!, Co-Initiators and Campaign Managers

By awarding HouseEurope!, the OBEL Jury sends a clear message to the architectural profession, as well as to future generations of architects: the profession has the collective power to challenge and transform the systems that shape how we live together. The OBEL Award 2025 will be officially presented on 21 October in Brussels, home of the European Union, where the ECI will advocate for change, with events and public actions planned across Europe.

“We are proud to present this year’s OBEL Award to HouseEurope!—a choice that not only reflects architecture’s inherent potential but also demonstrates the spirit of OBEL. In a field as complex and restricted as the building industry, no one project can fully represent the systemic change we urgently need. This year’s winner is both a source of inspiration and a call to action, and we will support HouseEurope! in bringing their work to a broader global context.” — Jesper Eis Eriksen, Executive Director, OBEL.

Photo: OBEL

Learn more about HouseEurope!