Notes to editors

1. For further press information regarding the RIBA Stirling Prize, please contact Mina Vadon in the RIBA Press Office on 020 7307 3761 or mina.vadon@inst.riba.org
2. Crystal CG is a media company that specialises in high-quality 3D animation and design. Established in 1995, Crystal CG helps its clients achieve their goals by applying 3D visualisation technology to produce creative solutions. Based on its advanced software and committed workforce, Crystal CG has now evolved into a broad-based media company and expanded into areas like digital entertainment, history, culture and education. www.crystalcg.com
3. The Architects' Journal is the voice of architecture in Britain. This weekly magazine sits at the heart of the debate about British architecture and British cities, forming opinions across the whole construction industry on design-related matters.  www.architectsjournal.co.uk
4. Autodesk, Ibstock, NBS and SIV Human Resources are associate sponsors of the Stirling Prize.  For more information please visit www.autodesk.co.uk , www.ibstock.com , www.thenbs.com and www.siv.co.uk .
5. Brief citations for each shortlisted building are included below:
   
   5 Aldermanbury Square, London – Eric Parry Architects
   The project does much to improve the urban realm of the City of London. It evolved to allow the creation of a new public space connecting Wood Street and Aldermanbury Square to the upper level of the Barbican High Walk.  The new 18-storey building sits above this public space and consists of two staggered wings that are divided by a receding central section. The two entrances are linked by a triple height ground floor reception , with a sloping floor which drops a metre from north to south. The external frame and facades are formed in shot-peened stainless steel cladding, and are arranged in double and, immediately above the base, triple height bays giving a strong sense of verticality to the elevations.
   
   Kentish Town Health Centre, London – Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
   Kentish Town Health Centre sets a new standard for the NHS. Dr Roy MacGregor has championed a building where new thinking on holistic healthcare, connectivity, flexibility and transparency were all harnessed by his team. Through its fusion of health practice, architecture and art, the resulting building is uplifting for both staff and patients. Consulting rooms and stairs enjoy views into a triple height central street and waiting area around which the plan is organised. The project champions the idea of cellular flexibility whereby consulting and meeting rooms are assigned to health staff via an electronic booking system. The project is exemplary in its approach to sustainability and includes the use of recycled materials, natural ventilation and night-time purging of internal space temperatures. Why can't all health clinics be like this?
   
   Liverpool One Masterplan, Liverpool – BDP
   The Liverpool One Masterplan has single-handedly reversed the fortunes of the city by bringing a new social and economic vibrancy to what was 42 acres of derelict but historic buildings at its heart.  The result is a vibrant and economically successful retail, leisure and mixed-use quarter – an entirely revitalised city centre that now connects properly with the Docks. BDP set down generous public space networks and rigorous yet flexible design briefs and have worked with a broad range of architects to evolve the plan and deliver buildings of a very high quality. That one project has been able to deliver sufficient critical mass to regenerate a city of such importance is the result of an outstanding client with vision and commitment to delivering design excellence and urban coherence. 
   
   Maggie's Centre, London – Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
   How can a building can generate an immediate sense of welcome, serenity and even love on a frantic Hammersmith thoroughfare and in the shadow of a dauntingly huge NHS hospital?  RSH's quietly confident building is unquestionably a haven for those who have been diagnosed with cancer. Their achievement is in having created a completely informal, home-like sanctuary to help patients with cancer. Conceived as a two-storey pavilion, the architects have sheltered the centre from its harsh surroundings with a thick and cheerful orange masonry wall that also serves as a backdrop for carefully planted tree groves and gardens. Its positive spirit is signalled with a roof canopy that oversails its many intimate internal gardens and courtyards.
   
   Bodegas Protos, Spain – Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
   Bodegas Protos is an aspirational wine co-operative in Peñafiel, north-west Spain.  The five parallel arches of the great roof sitting on a stone plinth provide a magnificently memorable image for the Bodegas on its site overlooked by the fine medieval Castle of Peñafiel .   The handsome laminated timber trusses spring from the level of the plinth, while the terracotta tile-covered roof floats free of the purlins by means of steel arms.  Inside the building visitors find themselves overlooking a double-height space, with the fermentation and storage vessels below them.  Descending the spiral steel and glass stair visitors gain sudden views of the castle through the glazed gable of the arches far above them.  This is a very memorable building.
   
   Fuglsang Kunstmuseum, Denmark – Tony Fretton Architects
   Fretton's design consciously eschews the two stereotypes of the modern-day art space: the flashy icon project designed to pull in the punters, and the white cube, designed to attract, rather, the opposite, a rarefied audience of connoisseurs. The client's considered brief demanded an approachable, domestic-scale gallery which, nonetheless, had presence, and in which the studying of art by curators in the offices, and the experience of art in the galleries were connected, without getting in the way of one another. This Fretton achieves hands-down. It is well constructed and detailed, and clearly erudite, with nods in its composition to architectural history. It feels, said one judge, almost as if it could have been built in any decade since the 20s. That is quite a compliment.
6. The RIBA Stirling Prize is a 'built or designed in Britain' prize, for which only buildings in the UK by RIBA chartered members and International Fellows, or buildings in the rest of the EU by practices whose principal office is in the UK, are eligible.
7. 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 (broadcast on Channel 4); the Royal Gold Medal; International and Honorary Fellowships; RIBA partnership in architecture festivals; a full programme of lectures, exhibitions, tours and other events; and an education programme.
8. 2009 marks the 175th anniversary of the founding of the RIBA. To celebrate this milestone the Institute is holding a programme of special events throughout the year that aim to show the breadth of our activities throughout the world of architecture, and engage an even wider public and celebrate the benefits to society of good design. For further information visit www.architecture.com