Evelyn Grace Academy in London by Zaha Hadid Architects wins the RIBA Stirling Prize 2011 for the best building of the year

Date:

01 October 2011

Press office contact:

Mina Vadon
T: +44 (0)207 307 3761
E: mina.vadon@riba.org

The Evelyn Grace Academy, a cutting-edge new secondary school in Brixton, south London by Zaha Hadid Architects has won the prestigious £20,000 RIBA Stirling Prize 2011 for the best new European building built or designed in the United Kingdom.

This is the second year running that Zaha Hadid Architects have won the RIBA Stirling Prize; last year they won the award for their MAXXI Museum of 21st Century Art in Rome; this year they have put the practice's formidable reputation to great use by breaking new ground in school design. Now in its 16th year, the RIBA Stirling Prize is presented in association with The Architects Journal and Kingspan Benchmark.

The presentation of the UK's premier architectural award took place at a special ceremony this evening (Saturday 1 October 2011) at the RIBA Stirling Prize-winning (2001) Magna Science Adventure Centre in Rotherham, and will be televised tomorrow (Sunday 2 October 2011) on BBC Two's The Culture Show at 5pm.

A highly stylized zig-zag of steel and glass, the Evelyn Grace Academy is squeezed onto the tightest of urban sites (1.4 hectares - the average secondary school is 8/9 hectares). The architects received a complex brief: four schools under a single academy umbrella with the need to express both independence and unity. The architects were strongly encouraged by the client to 'think outside the box'. With such a small space and with sport being one of the Academy's 'special subjects' (each Academy school has one), the architects needed to be highly inventive.

They succeeded, for instance by cleverly inserting a 100m running track into the heart of the site taking pupils right up to the front door. By dramatically celebrating the school's specialism, the RIBA Stirling Prize judges noted 'this is a design that literally makes kids run to get into school in the morning'.

The Evelyn Grace Academy is the first school to win the RIBA Stirling Prize, with seven schools shortlisted in previous years. It is the first time that Zaha Hadid Architects have designed a school and their first large-scale project in the UK. Previously they designed a Maggie's Centre in Scotland and more recently they have completed the Riverside Museum in Glasgow and the London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympics.

Speaking tonight, RIBA President Angela Brady, Chair of the judges, said:

'The Evelyn Grace Academy is an exceptional example of what can be achieved when we invest carefully in a well-designed new school building. The result - a highly imaginative, exciting Academy that shows the students, staff and local residents that they are valued - is what every school should and could be.

The unique design, expertly inserted into an extremely tight site, celebrates the school's sports specialism throughout its fabric, with drama and views of student participation at every contortion and turn. Evelyn Grace Academy is a very worthy winner of architecture's most prestigious award and I am delighted to present Zaha Hadid Architects with this accolade.'

The Evelyn Grace Academy is run by ARK (Absolute Return for Kids) Academy organisation, a charity set up by Arpad 'Arki' Busson, the hedge-fund multimillionaire. ARK aims to offer exceptional opportunities to local children in inner cities with the aim of helping to close the achievement gap between children from disadvantaged and more affluent backgrounds.

Peter Walker, Principal of the Evelyn Grace Academy said:

'This visually stunning building makes a powerful statement to our students every day they attend school. As a new academy setting the highest expectations for all students, it is fitting that we have such an aspirational environment. The internal structure of the building supports the innovative nature of Evelyn Grace Academy’s small school system exceptionally well.'

Zaha Hadid said:

'It is very significant that our first project in London is the Evelyn Grace. Schools are among the first examples of architecture that everyone experiences and have a profound impact on all children as they grow up. I am delighted that the Evelyn Grace Academy has been so well received by all its students and staff.'

Evelyn Grace Academy was chosen from the following outstanding shortlisted entries:

An Gaelaras, Derry by O’Donnell and Tuomey
The Angel Building, London by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM)
Folkwang Museum, Essen, Germany by David Chipperfield Architects
Olympic Velodrome London 2012 by Hopkins Architects, supported by the Olympic Delivery Authority
Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres, Stratford by Bennetts Associates

RIBA President Angela Brady announced the winner, editor of The Architects' Journal Christine Murray awarded the £20,000 cheque and Peter Santo, Head of Benchmark presented the certificate to architects Zaha Hadid, Patrik Schumacher and Lars Teichman, and school principal Peter Walker.

The 2011 RIBA Stirling Prize judges were RIBA President and Chair of the judges, Angela Brady; Sir Peter Cook - architect and academic, formerly of Royal Gold Medal winning Archigram; Hanif Kara - engineer, Adams Kara Taylor; Dan Pearson - landscape designer and RIBA Honorary Fellow and Alison Brooks - architect and winner of the RIBA Stirling Prize 2008 with Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Maccreanor Lavington for the Accordia housing scheme.

The winners of the RIBA Lubetkin Prize and two special awards were also announced this evening:

The Met, a sixty-six storey residential skyscraper in Bangkok, Thailand by WOHA architects won the prestigious RIBA Lubetkin Prize for the most outstanding work of international architecture outside the EU by a member of the RIBA.

St. Patrick's School Library and Music Room in north-west London by Coffey Architects won the RIBA’s 2011 Stephen Lawrence Prize. Set up in memory of Stephen Lawrence who was setting out on the road to becoming an architect when he was murdered in 1993 and funded by the Marco Goldschmied Foundation, the prize rewards the best examples of projects that have a construction budget of less than £1 million and is intended to encourage fresh talent working with smaller budgets.

The Royal Shakespeare Company won the 2011 RIBA Client of the Year supported by the Bloxham Charitable Trust. The award recognizes the role good clients play in the delivery of fine architecture.

Notes to editors

For further press information journalists please contact Mina Vadon in the RIBA Press Office on +44 (0)20 7307 3761 - +44 (0)7805 173681 or email mina.vadon@riba.org|.

Images of the winning building and shortlisted entries can be downloaded from http://www.box.net/shared/6s0uuz1x2pb753og85yc|

The full building credits and judges' citation follow:

Evelyn Grace Academy

Shakespeare Road, London SE24

Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects

Client: ARK Schools

Contractor: Mace Plus

Structural Engineer: Arup

Contract value: £37.5m

Date of completion: 2010

Gross internal area: 10,745 sq m

The Evelyn Grace Academy is Zaha Hadid Architects' first large-scale UK project and their first school. So good is the resulting building that there have been no objections from neighbours, none from teachers about the shapes or size of the classrooms and none from the students who find it inspiring and a privilege to attend. 'It doesn’t make you depressed in the mornings like the temporary one used to do,’ one of them told the Stirling judges, 'in fact it’s exciting and we’re proud of it.'

The architects received a complex brief: four schools under a single academy umbrella with the need to express both independence and unity. This is a large school on a small site, occupying just 1.4 hectares, whereas the average secondary school takes up 8 hectares.

Curiously for a school whose speciality is sport, the original site seemingly lacked any opportunity for significant outdoor sport but the architects have responded with guile and intelligence, providing a multi-use Astroturf pitch which can be used for football or simultaneously by games requiring smaller playing areas.

The project is distinguished by its planning; its saltire (slanted cross) plan solving demands of site and usage effortlessly. The site is cut broadly in half by a bright red 100 metre sprint track that stretches between the two gates to the street. The academy bridges the track at the 50 metre point. The track separates the two schools whose entrances are at the half-way point.

The two upper storeys of the school buildings offer a podium which appears to reduce their height and mass in this area of small scale housing. The podium roof also provides terraces which act as gathering spaces for each school in the morning and during breaks.

Internally the academy is a good quality and functional modern school, with occasional design surprises which serve as reminders that this is architecture and not just building: a fine stair detail here, finely judged lockers there, which add dabs of colour to the grey and white palette and open on to corridors while their volume is taken out of the classrooms on to which they back.

None of this is in any way at the expense of utility or value. In fact so rigorously was the budget controlled that the architects even offered to ‘sponsor’ some of the features that fell to cost-cutting.

At the outset the architects decided against the atrium that has become a trope in the design of so many academies. Instead of wasting space, and therefore money, in this way, they spend wisely on better designed and lit classroom and wider corridors and on the big rooms at the heart of the plan which can be divided by acoustic screens into dining, teaching, assembly, drama and indoor sport areas. This is a design that makes kids run to get into school in the morning.

The RIBA Stirling Prize

The RIBA Stirling Prize is for the best building in the UK by RIBA chartered architects and International Fellows, or in the rest of the EU by an RIBA chartered architect. The RIBA Stirling Prize is chosen from a shortlist drawn up by the RIBA Awards Group following visits to eligible schemes.

The shortlisted buildings are 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 RIBA Stirling Prize jury determines the winner on the day of the prize’s presentation and its votes remain confidential – full details can be found at www.architecture.com|.

This is the 16th year the RIBA Stirling Prize has been presented. Last year's winner was MAXXI, the National Museum of XXI Century Arts in Rome by Zaha Hadid Architects, and previous winners include Maggie's Cancer Care Centre by Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners, Accordia by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Alison Brooks Architects, and Maccreanor Lavington; the Museum of Modern Literature by David Chipperfield Architects; Barajas Airport in Madrid by Richard Rogers Partnership; The Scottish Parliament, designed by EMBT/RMJM; 30 St. Mary Axe by Foster and Partners; the Laban Centre, London by Herzog & de Meuron; Gateshead Millennium Bridge by Wilkinson Eyre; Magna, Rotherham by Wilkinson Eyre; Peckham Library and Media Centre by Alsop and Störmer; the NatWest Media Centre at Lord's Cricket Ground by Future Systems; the American Air Museum at Duxford by Foster and Partners; The Music School, Stuttgart by Michael Wilford and Partners; and the Centenary Building, University of Salford, by Hodder Associates.

Zaha Hadid Architects have been shortlisted for the prize on three previous occasions; in 2005 for the BMW Central Building, Leipzig, Germany; in 2006 for the Phaeno Science Centre, Wolfsburg, Germany and in 2008 for Nord Park Railway in Innsbruck, Austria.

The RIBA Stirling Prize is in association with principal sponsors the Architects’ Journal and Benchmark. The associate sponsors are Ibstock and NBS.

Established in 1895, The Architects' Journal has consistently been at the forefront of architectural publishing. Its weekly news coverage, comprehensive building studies and in-depth technical and practice features make it essential reading for the profession, and its incisive commentary makes it a must-read for opinion formers. The AJ is the UK's leading independent architectural magazine, whose authoritative voice has informed generations of architects. For more information on the RIBA Awards programme visit the AJ website at http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk|.

Kingspan Benchmark

This year, Kingspan Benchmark launched Kingspan Benchmark Connect, a pre-engineered multi-spanning unitised wall system that has excellent thermal, structural and fire performance and can speed up the build time while providing the ideal platform for the Benchmark façade range.

Recently launched is Benchmark Evolution, the latest development in insulated panel technology. Evolution is a stylish, sleek, laser flat panel with a unique range of design features that allow maximum design flexibility in the creation of a truly bespoke system. For more information visit http://www.kingspanbenchmark.com|.

Images of the winners of the 2011 RIBA Lubetkin Prize can be downloaded here:http://www.box.net/shared/g0szupvh756em91lzxy7/1/91804309|

Images of the winners of the 2011 RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize can be downloaded here:http://www.box.net/shared/f6l7i0qjf9mdp7udml3u|

Images of the winners of the 2011 Client of the Year Prize can be downloaded here:http://www.box.net/shared/xda3x13var0q423dud4i|

The Royal Institute of British Architects champions better buildings, communities and the environment through architecture and its members. www.architecture.com|.