The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) announced its shortlist for this year’s best new building. From a photography studio to the British Museum’s latest addition, six buildings will be pitted against one another in their race to claim the top spot of RIBA’s 2017 Stirling Prize.
In its 22nd year, the prize is considered to be Britain’s most prestigious architecture award. The jury considers a range of criteria, including design vision, originality, capacity to stimulate, engagement with occupants and visitors, accessibility, sustainability, and the level of client satisfaction.
“This year’s shortlist typifies everything that is special about U.K. architecture: this is not just a collection of exceptionally well-designed buildings but spaces and places of pure beauty, surprise, and delight,” RIBA President Jane Duncan said in a press release.
The winner will be announced on October 31, 2017.
British Museum World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre
Architect: Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
Structural Engineers: Ramboll
M&E Engineers: Arup
Acoustic Engineers: Arup
Landscape Architects: Gillespies
Lighting Design: Arup
Previous winners Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (for Maggie’s Centre London in 2009 and Madrid’s Barajas Airport in 2006) will be looking for their third win with their subterranean extension of the British institution, which includes conservation studios and a column-free exhibition hall that’s almost 12,000 square feet in size.
City of Glasgow College – City Campus
Architect: Reiach & Hall Architects and Michael Laird Architects
Structural Engineer: Arup
Landscape Architectrank: infraser landscape architecture
M&E Engineer: FES with Hulley and Kirkwood
Acoustics: ARUP Acoustics
Interiors Graven Signage: Studio LR
Reiach & Hall Architects and Michael Laird Architects were shortlisted last year for the City of Glasgow College’s Riverside Campus. This year, their latest addition to the university is in the spotlight for both its immense scale and its restraint in material and form.
Hastings Pier
Architect: dRMM Architects
Structural Engineer: Ramboll UK
Environmental / M&E Engineer: Ramboll UK
Marine Engineers: Ramboll UK
Hasting’s newest seaside pier by firm dRMM Architects (who have been shortlisted twice before) is a revitalization success story of a decrepit pier turned into a vibrant public space through collaboration between community, engineers, and architects.
Command of the Oceans
Architect: Baynes and Mitchell Architects
M&E Engineer: Skelly & Couch
Experiential Designer: Land Design Studio
Structural & Civil Engineers: Price & Myers
Lighting Design Studio: ZNA
Command of the Oceans is a redevelopment of the Chatham Historic Dockyard in Chatham, England. The transformation of a group of shipbuilding sheds into a new visitor attraction is bound together by a new, striking visitor hall entrance.
Barrett’s Grove
Architect: Groupwork + Amin Taha
Structural Engineers: Webb Yates Engineers
M&E Engineers: Syntegra
A residential project, Barrett’s Grove features six apartments with wicker basket balconies that jut out onto the street. The building is built with timber and wrapped in perforated brick.
Photography Studio for Juergen Teller
Architect: 6a architects
Landscape Architects: Dan Pearson Studio
Structural Engineers: Price & Myers
M&E Engineers: Max Fordham LLP
The smallest project out of them all is by 6a architects, who exploited the narrow plot of land to create a sequence of three volumes for a flexible workspace. Light is brought in with interspersed courtyard gardens.
