The shortlist for the prestigious 2017 RIBA Stirling Prize for the UK’s best new building - now in its 22nd year - has been announced. The six shortlisted buildings will now go head-to-head for architecture’s highest accolade, to be awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), a global professional membership body, on Tuesday 31 October 2017.
The RIBA Stirling Prize is the UK’s most prestigious architecture award. Given to the architect of the building thought to be the most significant of the year for the evolution of architecture and the built environment, the RIBA Stirling Prize is judged on a 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 2017 shortlist comprises a slender brick-clad and wicker-balconied development of six apartments in east London (Barrett’s Grove); the skilful subterranean extension of a much-loved British institution (British Museum World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre); the striking redevelopment of Chatham Historic Dockyard (Command of the Oceans); an immense new college campus in the heart of Glasgow (City of Glasgow College – City Campus); a vibrant community-led restored pier on the south coast (Hastings Pier); and an exquisite new photography studio in west London (Photography Studio for Juergen Teller).
The shortlist features also projects by previous RIBA Stirling Prize winners Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (for Maggie’s Centre London in 2009 and Barajas Airport in 2006). Reiach & Hall Architects and Michael Laird Architects were shortlisted last year for City of Glasgow College’s Riverside Campus. Reiach & Hall Architects were shortlisted for Maggie's Centre Lanarkshire in 2015 and dRMM have been shortlisted twice before (Clapham Manor School in 2010 and Trafalgar Place in 2016). Groupwork + Amin Taha, 6a architects and Baynes and Mitchell Architects are shortlisted for the first time.
“This year’s shortlisted schemes show exceptionally creative, beautifully considered and carefully detailed buildings that have made every single penny count. Commissioned at the end of the recession, they are an accolade to a creative profession at the top of its game. Each of these outstanding projects has transformed their local area and delights those who are lucky enough to visit, live, study or work in them" said RIBA President Jane Duncan.
“This year’s shortlist typifies everything that is special about UK architecture: this is not just a collection of exceptionally well designed buildings but spaces and places of pure beauty, surprise and delight.”
The official winner of the RIBA Stirling Prize will be announced on Tuesday 31 October 2017 at the Roundhouse in Camden, north London.
- Barretts Grove – Amin Taha + Groupwork – Stoke Newington, North London. Credit: Timothy Soar
- City of Glasgow College – Reiach and Hall Architects and Michael Laird Architects – Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Credits: Keith Hunter
- Command of the Oceans – Baynes and Mitchell Architects – Chatham, Kent, England. Credits: Hélène Binet
- Hastings Pier – dRMM Architects – Hastings, East Sussex, England. Credits: Francessco Montaguti
- Photography Studio for Juergen Teller – 6a architects – Ladbroke Grove, West London, England. Credits: Johan Dehlin
- The British Museum World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre – Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners – Bloomsbury, Central London, England. Credits: Paul Rafferty