2008

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Sackler Crossing wins the Stephen Lawrence Prize

Date:

11 October 2008

Press office contact:

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

The Sackler Crossing by John Pawson has won the 2008 Stephen Lawrence Prize

 

The Stephen Lawrence Prize is sponsored by the Marco Goldschmied Foundation. It commemorates the teenager who was just setting out on the road to becoming an architect when he was murdered in 1993. It rewards the best examples of projects with a construction budget of less than £1,000,000. In addition to the £5,000 prize money, Marco Goldschmied puts up an additional £5000 to fund the Stephen Lawrence Scholarship at the Architectural Association.

 

The Stephen Lawrence Prize was set up in 1998 to draw attention to the Stephen Lawrence Trust to assist young black students to study architecture and to reward smaller projects and the creativity required when architects are working with low budgets. The 2008 award was judged by architect Marco Goldschmied and RIBA Honorary Fellow Doreen Lawrence OBE. 

 

Marco Goldschmied, founder of the Marco Goldschmied Foundation said:

"Every so often a project is executed which is so at ease with itself that it seems to have an aura of inevitability about it. The Sackler crossing is one such. It is difficult to imagine this secluded corner of Kew Gardens ever having been without it any more than it is possible to imagine them without the Palm House.

The crossing, which establishes a much-needed new route across the gardens, blends effortlessly into its surroundings. It is a masterly conjuring trick playfully deceiving the eye with light and water as its props. It one of those rare designs where less truly is more: a worthy winner of the 2008 Stephen Lawrence Award from a very strong shortlist."

 

The other buildings shortlisted for the award were:

  1. East Beach Café by Heatherwick Studio
  2. Classroom of the Future by Gollifer Langston Architects
  3. Cremorne Riverside Centre by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects
  4. Glass & Timber Houses by Hampson Williams

Notes to editors

  1. For images and further information please contact Mina Vadon in the RIBA Press Office on 020 7307 3761 or mina.vadon@inst.riba.org
  2. Full citation follows:

The Sackler Crossing

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey

Practice:  John Pawson

Client:  Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Structural engineer:  Buro Happold 

Services engineer: Atelier 10 

Quantity surveyor:  Jackson Coles

Access consultant: BRCS (Building Control) 

Contractor:  Balfour Beatty Civic Engineering

Contract Value: £949,000

Date of completion: January 2006

   

Every so often a project is executed which is so at ease with itself that it seems to have an aura of inevitability about it. The Sackler Crossing is one such. It is difficult to imagine this secluded corner of Kew Gardens ever having been without it, any more than it is possible to imagine the gardens without the Palm House. As with other recent commissions, the Sackler Crossing further enriches the remarkable 200-year long dynasty of eccentric, innovative, experimental designs at Kew. 

This is a beautiful sculptural piece which plots a serpentine path across the water, with the deck set at the minimum possible distance from the lake's surface, so that you feel as if you are walking on water. It establishes a much-needed new route across the gardens, blends effortlessly into its surroundings. It is a masterly conjuring trick playfully deceiving the eye with light and water as its props. The brilliant solution for the balustrading, which ingeniously transcends the joyless constraints of today's Health and Safety regulations, transforms the inherent solidity of its bronze uprights into an evanescent, reed-like, vision. Close up the transparency becomes tactile, its shine bearing testament to the daily caresses of thousands of hands.

The commission followed several attempts by others to produce an appropriate design solution. In spite of there being no funds with which to execute the project due to the halving by Government of the Kew Gardens budget, it is to the client's immense credit of the client – who were deemed worthy in 2007 of being named Client of the Year by the RIBA - that they persisted in their search for design excellence. Their efforts were rewarded both in terms of the legacy to the nation and in the remarkable fact that the design itself was the catalyst for its own execution, sparking the Sackler donation with which it was eventually funded. Capability Brown, who created the context for the bridge, talked of a 'sinuous line of grace'. Seldom before has his ideal been so exquisitely realized. This is one of those rare designs where less truly is more: a worthy winner of the 2008 Stephen Lawrence Prize from a very strong shortlist.

  1. The RIBA Stirling Prize in association with The Architects' Journalis the UK's most prestigious architectural prize and is awarded annually to the architects of the building which has made the greatest contribution to British architecture in the past year.  The RIBA awards programme was re-organised in 2007 in a pyramid structure.   The RIBA Awards are judged and presented locally and the the RIBA National Awards are judged and presented nationally.  The RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist is selected following further visits to winners of the RIBA National Awards and of RIBA European Awards for buildings in the rest of the EU
  2. From 2008 the RIBA Stirling Prize becomes a 'built or designed in Britain' All RIBA Award winners can be seen at www.architecture.com
  3. The RIBA Awards and RIBA Stirling Prize are managed by the RIBA Trust. The RIBA Trust manages the cultural assets of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), including the internationally recognised collections of the British Architectural Library. It is the UK's national architecture centre, delivering the RIBA Awards and RIBA Stirling Prize (live on Channel 4); the Royal Gold Medal; International and Honorary Fellowships; Architecture Week (with Arts Council England and the Architecture Centre Network); a full programme of lectures, exhibitions, tours and other events; and an education programme
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