RIBA Stirling Prize 2015 shortlist announced

The Royal Institute of British Architects has revealed its shortlist of six buildings for the 2015 Stirling Prize.

The shortlist was selected from the 37 winners of the RIBA’s national awards, which were revealed last month. The awards are viewed as the most rigorously judged prizes for architectural excellence in the UK, with the winning buildings eligible to win the prestigious RIBA Stirling Prize.

The Stirling Prize is awarded by the Institute to buildings in recognition of their contribution to British architecture in the past year and are judged on RIBA’s range of criteria including ‘design vision; innovation and originality; capacity to stimulate, engage and delight occupants and visitors; accessibility and sustainability; how fit the building is for its purpose and the level of client satisfaction.’

The 2015 shortlist and a brief description of the buildings by RIBA are as follows:

Burntwood School by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
Bold, characterful new campus buildings with light-filled rooms and corridors add to sense of this being a very collegiate school.

Darbishire Place by Niall McLaughlin Architects
Dignified new 13-home Peabody apartment building, with refined proportions and details.

Maggie’s Lanarkshire by Reiach and Hall Architects
Modest, low building that gathers a sequence of domestic-scaled spaces. Visitors enter via a quiet arrival court, defined by the low walls and lime trees. At once, a sense of dignity and calm is encountered.

Neo Bankside by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
New luxury housing towers and exo-skeleton and external lifts on London’s South Bank – a well-mannered example of a structurally expressive architecture.

University of Greenwich, Stockwell Street Building by Heneghan Peng Architects
Located in a UNESCO World Heritage Site, this delightful building houses the university library and departments of Architecture, Landscape and Arts.

The Whitworth, University of Manchester by MUMA
Extension to the 19th century Whitworth Gallery – carefully crafted spaces emerge seamlessly from the existing as an integral yet individualistic part of the whole assembly.

Of the six projects, only two of the architectural practices, Reiach and Hall and MUMA,  haven’t been shortlisted previously.

RIBA President, Stephen Hodder, said: “Every one of the six shortlisted buildings illustrates why great architecture is so valuable – it has the power to delight, inspire and comfort us at all stages of our lives.

“The shortlisted projects are each surprising new additions to urban locations – hemmed in to a hospital car park, in-filling an east London square, completing a school campus – but their stand-out common quality is their exceptionally executed, crafted detail.

“From the simple palette of materials used on the Maggie’s Centre, to the huge repeating facades of NEO Bankside, every detail on every building, both internally and externally, is well-executed.

“Not only are these the best new housing projects, school, university, cultural and health buildings in the country today, they are game-changers that other architects, clients and local authorities should aspire to.”

The award ceremony will be held on 15 October at Portland Place, London.

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