Newport Street Gallery by Caruso St. John Architects Wins 2016 RIBA Stirling Prize

Jane Duncan, president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), announced that Newport Street Gallery, by Caruso St. John Architects has won its 2016 Stirling Prize in a televised ceremony on the BBC today. The Stirling Prize—which was formerly known as the Building of the Year Award, but was renamed following the untimely death of 1980 Royal Gold Medal winner James Stirling—is bestowed annually to the building in the U.K. that has made the greatest contribution to the field’s evolution. RIBA had announced a shortlist of six projects in contention for the 21st edition of the Stirling Prize in July, with the interim being filled by online public voting for an unofficial people’s choice award, also announced today.

‘With Newport Street Gallery, Damien Hirst has made an exceptional contribution to the UK’s strong history of private patronage of architecture,” Duncan said at the ceremony. “Not only has Damien opened up his enviable private art collection to the world, but he has commissioned a real work of art to house it in. Caruso St John have created a stunningly versatile space from a number of linked buildings, with beautifully crafted staircases and superb details including tactile brick facades that blend the street externally and create a succession of wonderful gallery spaces. This project exemplifies the best of UK architecture: a highly considered and creative project that brings to life a previously-unloved pocket of the city. I am delighted to present architects Caruso St John with the 2016 RIBA Stirling Prize.”

Receiving the award, Peter St John, a partner of Caruso St John Architects, said:
‘It’s rare for architects to be given the opportunity to realize a personal vision of the quality of the Newport Street Gallery, and for that vision to have a generous public dimension. We see the building as a palace for direct, intimate and luxurious encounters with contemporary art, and we are very pleased that this award will bring more people to see this extraordinary collection.”

The judges selecting the 2016 RIBA Stirling Prize were Patrik Schumacher, design director of Zaha Hadid Architects; Paul Monaghan, of AHMM, whose Burntwood School won the 2015 RIBA Stirling Prize; Roisin Heneghan, of Heneghan Peng Architects, whose work was nominated for the Stirling Prize in 2013 and 2015; Michael Hussey, a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors; and Rachel Whiteread, who is one of the U.K.’s preeminent sculptors.

Prior to the headlining Stirling Prize announcement, Duncan also presented the Stephen Lawrence Prize and the Client of the Year award. The Stephen Lawrence Prize was established by the Marco Goldschmied Foundation to honor the memory of Stephen Lawrence, a teenager on the path to becoming an architect who was murdered in 1993. The Stephen Lawrence Prize seeks to recognize fresh architectural talent through selection of a single project with a construction budget of less than £1 million ($1.26 million), and was awarded this year to House of Trace, by Tsuruta Architects. The Client of the Year award went to Westmorland, supported by The Bloxham Charitable Trust, for Gloucester Services, which was designed by Glenn Howells Architects and AFL Architects.

In addition to the official juried selection, two unofficial awards were announced in advance of today’s winner. The BBC hosted an online opportunity for people to vote for their favorite project from the shortlisted six. RIBA and the BBC announced that Outhouse, by Loyn & Co Architects, has won the online vote, which was the only single-family home on the shortlist, and garnered 31 percent of more than 36,000 votes cast.

The second unofficial winner was picked by an alternative jury set up by weekly U.K.-based architecture periodical Architect’s Journal, which included PIers Taylor, founder of Invisible Studio; Martyn Evans, a developer; Daisy Froud, who teaches at the Bartlett School of Architecture and was on the Archictect’s Journal 2014 shortlist for its Emerging Woman Architect of the Year as the founder of AOC; and the magazine’s own architecture editor, Laura Mark. The AJ alternative jury announced that it had chosen City of Glasgow College, Riverside Campus, by Michael Laird Architects and Reiach and Hall Architects, just hours before the official selection.

Learn more about all six of the buildings from the 2016 RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist in ARCHITECT’s Project Gallery:

Newport Street Gallery by Caruso St. John Architects wins the 2016 RIBA Stirling Prize.

Outhouse, Loyn & Co Architects (also longlisted for the 2016 RIBA House of the Year Award).

Blavatnik School of Government, Herzog & de Meuron.

City of Glasgow College, Riverside Campus, Michael Laird Architects and Reiach and Hall Architects.

Weston Library, WilkinsonEyre.

Trafalgar Place, dRMM Architects.

Learn more about all six of the buildings from the 2016 RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist in ARCHITECT’s Project Gallery. This is a breaking news story and will be updated.