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Stirling Work
Posted by: Cane on 2nd Aug 2010 in Creative Report



Last week, RIBA announced the shortlist for this year’s Stirling Prize for architecture. If you don’t know the award, you’ll know some of its past winners, and chances are you will have been in or on some of the architecture. Since its inception in 1996, the prize has been awarded to 14 projects, including Gateshead’s ‘blinking eye’ Millennium Bridge, the Kubrickian Media Centre at Lords, and 30 St Mary Axe in EC3, or ‘The Gherkin’ to the architecturally relaxed.

The winner will be announced at the beginning of October so plenty of time to place your bets. The six possible future landmarks for this year are as follows:

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Rick Mather Architects
Image (above): Richard Bryant / Arcaid

The 39 galleries of this new building have doubled the exhibition space at Britain’s oldest public museum. There is also a new education centre, conservation studios and the obligatory café (although it is on the roof.) The delicate, crisp new interior provides a contrast to the original 19th century building.

Bateman's Row, London
Theis and Khan Architects
Image: Nick Kane



Just beside the spruced-up East London line in Shoreditch, this Modernist box of concrete and glass houses an office, a gallery and four living spaces.


Christ's CollegeSchool, Guildford
DSDHA architects
Image: Helene Binet



Concrete again... This new three storey building which replaces a series of smaller ones, is more economical to heat (and cool we assume?), and is supposedly less vulnerable to arson; which had been a problem in the past. Almost all the surfaces in the building remain unfinished, providing a nice acknowledgement of materials.



Clapham Manor Primary School, London
dRMM Architects
Image: Jonas Lencer / Philip Marsh



Another school building, this new annex to the familiarly styled Victorian schoolhouse is unmissable. The Mondrian-esque matrix of coloured windows and panels that covers every facade has a distinct Lego-like quality; no bad thing. and surely an enticement to the children of SW4.


MAXXI - NationalMuseum of 21st Century Arts, Rome
Zaha Hadid Architects
Image: designboom



Ten years in the making, Zaha Hadid’s whirl of intersecting and truncated forms creates numerous intriguing cavities, negative spaces and tonal contrasts. It’s the bookmakers' favourite, so if you’re after a very modest return, this is where the safe money is.


Neues Museum, Berlin
David Chipperfield Architects and Julian Harrap Architects
Image: Ute Zscharnt

This has been a decade-long restoration project of a neoclassical art museum badly bomb-damaged during WWII. Thanks to the nature of its prior condition, it has been variously restored, replaced and re-imagined, resulting in a unique mix of 19th century and 21st century aesthetics and construction techniques.



Who should/ will win it? Is it a good shortlist? Does anyone care? Do let us know your thoughts in the comment box below...