The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the six buildings shortlisted for this year’s RIBA Stirling Prize, the annual prize awarded to the UK’s best new building.
The six buildings include: 15 Clerkenwell Close, London (Groupwork); Cambridge Central Mosque (Marks Barfield Architects); Key Worker Housing in Eddington, Cambridge (Stanton Williams); Kingston University London – Town House (Grafton Architects); Tintagel Castle Footbridge for English Heritage, Cornwall (Ney & Partners and William Matthews Associates); and Windermere Jetty Museum, Cumbria (Carmody Groarke).
15 Clerkenwell Close – a limestone apartment and office building – was designed by Groupwork (formerly Amin Taha Architects) in 2017. It soon faced a backlash from local planning authorities, however, which argued it should be demolished for apparently damaging the surrounding conservation area.
Marks Barfield’s Cambridge Central Mosque (2019) – which was featured in our Summer 2020 issue – is a modern urban mosque, built with a striking cross-laminated timber (CLT) structure in geometric form. Stanton Williams’ Key Worker Housing in Eddington (2019) is a brick-dominated series of 264 homes for University of Cambridge staff, featuring a network of interconnected courts and squares.
Kingston University London’s Town House by Pritzker Prize-winning Grafton Architects (2020) is a monumental student hub in Kingston town centre comprising study, performance and social spaces.
Tintagel Castle Footbridge (2019), by Ney & Partners and William Matthews Associates, is a footbridge over a 58m-high drop between two cliffs on the Cornish coast, recreating the historic crossing from the mainland to the headland on which the medieval castle sits. In Cumbria, Carmody Groarke’s Windermere Jetty Museum (2019) is a cluster of shed-like buildings aside Lake Windermere house heritage boats and educational displays.
The 2021 RIBA Stirling Prize winner will be announced on 14 October at Coventry Cathedral.
