Urtzi Grau, distinguished academic and architect from Sydney’s University of Technology, has just been shortlisted in one of the architecture industry’s most prominent international design competitions.

The proposal from Grau’s design team was chosen from a global pool of 1715 entries, all vying for an opportunity to design the Guggenheim Museum in Helsinki, Finland.

Master of Architecture (Research) director, Grau is also a founding partner of Fake Industries Architectural Agonism. Together with co-founder Cristina Goberna, he collaborated with architects Carmen Blanco, Alvaro Carrillo, Jorge Lopez and Gonzalo Valiente to produce the successful entry.

Head of the School of Architecture at the University of Technology, Sydney, Professor Anthony Burke congratulated colleague Urtzi Grau on his shortlisting.

“Urtzi Grau occupies a special place within the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building at UTS,” Professor Burke said.

“Our teaching and research is centred on provoking and progressing civic discourse about what we want our cities and built environment to be. Urtzi’s research is precisely the sort of thinking required for a public building such as the Guggenheim Museum.”

Grau said he was excited and honoured to be among the group of finalists, drawn from entries from 77 countries and representing a wide range of perspectives.

“We are looking forward to further developing our concept design after an additional briefing from the competition organisers, the City of Helsinki and feedback from the jury,” he said.

The 11-member jury is judging submissions anonymously on the basis of architectural design, relationship to the site and the cityscape, practicality, sustainability and feasibility.

The winning design will be announced in June 2015 and awarded a prize of €100,000 (approximately $146,000). The five runners-up each will receive €55,000 (approximately $73,000).