The RIBA Stirling Prize is given for the RIBA Building of the Year. It is run in association with The Architects’ Journal and is presented to the architects of the building which has been the most significant for the evolution of architecture in the past year.
The winning architect receives a cash prize of £20,000. The prize is named after the great British architect Sir James Stirling (1926-1992).
The shortlisted buildings, chosen from winners of the RIBA National Awards, are visited in September by the RIBA Stirling Prize jury, who reconvene on the afternoon of the RIBA Stirling Prize Dinner to make their final decision. An awards dinner is in October in London and is broadcast live on BBC Two’s The Culture Show, presented by Kevin McCloud.
The 2010 winner was Zaha Hadid for designing the MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Rome, Italy.
MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Rome
This is a museum of paths and routes, a museum where the curators have to invent how to hang and place the works of 21st century art that have been collected since inception of the project – and the century. The permeable plaza recreates routes and connections, but also forces you to consider the new context that is created to engage with the activities within.
The whole is behind a 2.5 metre high industrial aluminium mesh fence which is there to protect the outdoor art that’s planned. Its setting has echoes of OMA’s Casa da Musica, an impression re-enforced by the perched box of an upper gallery with its panoramic window, reached by an array of stairs, ramps and lifts. Read More…
The 2009 winner was Rogers Stirk Harbour Partners for Maggie’s Centre London.
How can a building generate an immediate sense of welcome, serenity and even love on a frantic Hammersmith thoroughfare and in the shadow of a dauntingly huge NHS hospital? RSH’s quietly confident building is unquestionably a haven for those who have been diagnosed with cancer. Their achievement is in having created a completely informal, home-like sanctuary to help patients with cancer. Read more…
The 2008 winner was Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios/Alison Brooks Architects/Maccreanor Lavington for Accordia
Accordia Copyright: Tim Crocker
This is high density housing at its very best, demonstrating that volume house-builders can deliver high quality architecture – and that as a result they can improve their own bottom line. The whole scheme is about relationships: between architect and developer/contractor/client; between three very different firms of architects – Feilden Clegg Bradley, Maccreanor Lavington and Alison Brooks Architects; and between private and public external spaces, providing a new model for outside-inside life with interior rooftop spaces, internal courtyards and large semi-public community gardens.
On a brownfield site in Cambridge – formerly owned by the military – beautifully thought-through houses at a density of 47 homes to the hectare (65 if you discount the generous amenity spaces). Read More…
The 2007 winner was David Chipperfield Architects for the Museum of Modern Literature
Museum of Modern Literature
Following re-unification, texts of German authors previously dispersed to east and west have been brought together in this new museum. The entrance sequence is brilliant. The visitor crosses an open terrace overlooking the valley, then negotiates a series of shallow steps to enter through giant hardwood doors. Read more..