Six projects have been shortlisted for the 2022 RIBA Stirling Prize for the best new building in the UK.
Photograph by Rory Gardiner
RIBA president Simon Allford said all six contenders for this year’s Stirling Prize – from a pink school and housing block to a community centre and library – showed the “power of exceptional architecture to enhance lives”.
“As we grapple with housing, energy and climate crises, these six projects give cause for optimism, each offering innovative solutions to the challenges of today and the future. From major capital city regeneration programmes to new visions for higher education, they all share the ambition to deliver generous architecture fit for a low-carbon future,” said Allford.
“All six buildings are informed by close consultation and collaboration with clients, contractors and the community. The result: outstanding and welcoming architecture that lifts the spirit of all who engage with it,” he continued.
“All six are also underpinned by their understanding of construction’s responsibility to mitigate and adapt to our climate crisis. From the reuse and upgrade of existing buildings to the conscious specification of low-carbon materials and technologies, to the thoughtful design of hybrid, flexible spaces – these schemes consider their environment and give generously to their community.”
The 2022 RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist:
Photograph by Janie Airey
100 Liverpool Street by Hopkins Architects
London
“This refurbishment project transforms a former 1980s office building with deep floor plates into a high-quality, flexible commercial building fit for the 21st century. Its approach to reusing the existing building demonstrates clear strategic thinking, keeping what could be salvaged, unpicking what could not, and adding what was necessary,” reads the jury citation. “The building sits over several railway tracks and is next door to a bus station, so the complexities in the design and build process were manifold.”
“The building achieves a BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rating and is British Land’s first net zero carbon development. The client and design team evidently worked together very closely – adjusting and nudging the brief on the way to produce the best outcome, which is a truly impressive project.”
Forth Valley College by Reiach and Hall Architects
Falkirk Campus, Scotland
“Forth Valley Campus is the final building in a decade long re-definition of the College’s building stock after the two previous successes at Alloa, Stirling and Falkirk. Replacing a 60’s building that had reached the end of its useful life on the site adjacent, the new campus buildings hark back to architecture of that era with the long, low slung elevations intentionally referencing the architecture of that time as a nod to both the setting and the evolution of Reich and Hall as a practice,” reads the jury citation. “This is a building that knew where it needed money and an architect and client working in harmony to make sure it got it.”
“It is clear through the awards on show in the entrance lobby that this a client focused on excellence, both in education and the buildings that host it, and this leadership is clear in the outcome of the campus. The jury felt that this was evident nowhere more strongly than in the detail or motif that characterises the public circulation spaces of the building where the rooflights that wash the interior with light, are sculpted and lined with a rich ochre acoustic Valchromat with integrated LED lighting strips which shows a level of care, design, co-ordination and craftsmanship that is only evident in projects of this nature through the careful hand of talented architects and the strong leadership of client with belief in the process.”
Photograph by Nick Kane
Hackney New Primary School and 333 Kingsland Road by Henley Halebrown
London
“Hackney New Primary School is an immense sculptural pink brute of a building, punctuating a busy junction on the Kingsland Road with a certain civic pride. The project comprises a school enabled by a new housing block, both on a single, tight urban site,” reads the jury citation. “The grateful residents of the apartment building appear to be thoroughly enjoying the penthouse qualities of their temporary homes, the wide vistas across East London and the very generous outside spaces sheltered by the robust, uncomplicated concrete logia structure that defines the building’s external appearance. These current residents are maximising the meanwhile benefit of living in the building while another development gets underway nearby. Eventually the units will be occupied as 100% affordable housing.”
“The ten storeys are served by a central octagonal oculus staircase, a visual treat for those with a head for heights. When viewed from the tenth floor or basement, the impact is mesmerising, like a wormhole to another dimension. One hopes that it is enticing enough to tempt residents away from the lift on a day-to-day basis.”
Read Peter Stewart’s review of Hackney New Primary School and 333 Kingsland Road
Photograph by Enrique Verdugo
Orchard Gardens by Panter Hudspith Architects
Elephant Park, London
“Comprising 228 homes and 2,500sqm of retail and cultural spaces, Orchard Gardens is an entire city block and major component of Elephant & Castle’s regeneration. Designed to be viewed as a cluster of buildings, it wraps around a sunny communal garden with sophisticated and playful contrasting scales and heights, ranging from five to 19 storeys. The composition of these varying elevations enhances the quality of place-making around the site, creating an approachable neighbourhood, resonant of historic groups of buildings that have developed over time, without appearing contrived,” reads the jury citation.
“The judges felt that this was an exceptional exemplar of a dense residential-led, mixed-use scheme: a project that provides high quality-homes, well scaled outside spaces that positively respond to their setting and enhances place-making. An excellent scheme in what is one of the profession’s most challenging sectors.”
Photograph by Rory Gardiner
Sands End Arts and Community Centre by Mæ Architects
London
“Located on the northwest corner of Fulham’s South Park, the new Sands End Arts and Community Centre is a collaborative development comprising several new connected pavilions arranged around the existing disused Clancarty Lodge, a popular landmark that was refurbished as an exhibition space as part of the same project. Driven by the local council’s arts strategy of improving access to cultural activities for the widely diverse local community, the development’s brief and programme were co-created in consultation with the council, user clients, local stakeholders and local residents, all facilitated by the architects,” reads the jury citation.
“The architects have met the brief and budget with confidence and inventiveness, delivering a highly sustainable, delightful and flexible asset for the client.”
Photograph by Nick Kane
The New Library by Niall McLaughlin Architects
Magdalene College, Cambridge
“A brief to create a college library with a lifespan of 400 years – to replace a library gifted to Magdalene by Samuel Pepys 300 years previously – is no small task. Niall McLaughlin Architects have certainly risen to the challenge with this deft and inspiring temple to learning. The library combines load-bearing brickwork with exquisitely detailed horizontal engineered timber structure to establish a lofty, surprisingly vertical space with a complex three-dimensional tartan grid,” reads the jury citation.
“The library draws on familiar predilections from previous McLaughlin projects – the references to Louis Kahn’s handling of oak panelled window assemblies for example, via the housing for Summerville college, while also creating something wholly particular within the setting of the wider college. As with the best of the city’s many libraries, a great diversity of spaces to read and work are established, and reflecting its planned longevity, the building feels nicely slack – bookshelves are barely half filled and an extraordinary sense of space pervades, like inhabiting a hugely luxurious treehouse.”
Shortlists for the RIBA Neave Brown Award for Housing and Stephen Lawrence Prize have also been announced.
Neave Brown Award for Housing 2022 shortlist:
- 333 Kingsland Road by Henley Halebrown
- Kiln Place by Peter Barber Architects
- Lovedon Fields by John Pardey Architects
Stephen Lawrence Prize 2022 shortlist:
- Hackney School of Food by Surman WestonÂ
- Leeds Footbridge by Gagarin Studio
- Leyton House by McMahon Architecture
- Peveril Gardens and Studios by Sanchez Benton Architects
- Ravine House by Chiles Evans + Care Architects
- Surbiton Springs by Surman Weston
- The Parchment Works by Will Gamble Architects
All three prize-winners will be announced at the RIBA headquarters at 66 Portland Place on Thursday 13 October 2022.
Last year the recipient of the Stirling Prize was Kingston University London – Town House by Grafton Architects, while in 20219 the prize went to Goldsmith Street by Mikhail Riches with Cathy Hawley.
