Everyone knows that nature is beautiful. Trees, lakes, sunsets – mother nature is clearly a dab-hand at making pretty things, but us humans aren’t always quite as talented. We have to try a lot harder to make our surroundings attractive and helpful, so when we do, they deserve recognition.
Every year, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) recognises excellence in architecture, awarding its favourite buildings from across the country. These awards are a little different to many others, as they don’t really have categories. Instead, every building project which feels it deserves some love sends in an application for the experts at RIBA to review. The Institute then handpicks a few which really impress, and those become the winners.
This means you get a pretty wide variety of winners. The Institute’s president, Muyiwa Oki, said: ‘The sheer breadth of work is quite astounding, with large infrastructure schemes sitting alongside high–quality detailed smaller projects.
‘This is a testament to the standard of architecture in the UK right now.’
A total of 27 different buildings were awarded this year, each of them with unique features and reasons for success. Some, like the house on Redbrae farm, are just well constructed and nice to look at. Others, like London’s King's Cross Masterplan have ‘set a new bar in city making.’ Ambitious stuff.
The full list of winners at this year’s RIBA National Awards (in alphabetical order)
- Alfreton Park Community Special School – Curl la Tourelle Head Architecture: a school for pupils aged between 3 to 19 with special educational needs and disabilities
- Auckland Castle, Tower and Faith Museum – Níall McLaughlin Architects & Purcell: a series of urban and historic interventions for the restoration of a 900–year–old Grade I listed Castle
- Bath Abbey Footprint Project – Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios: repair, conservation work and much–needed new facilities at the centre of the UNESCO City of Bath
- Battersea Power Station Phase Two – WilkinsonEyre: the restoration and transformation of the London landmark on the banks of the River Thames
- Beechwood Village – Pollard Thomas Edwards: a co–designed modular, contemporary neighbourhood
- Bradbury Works – [Y/N] Studio: the refurbishment and extension of existing affordable workspace
- Chowdhury Walk – Al–Jawad Pike: this new development repurposes under–used Hackney Council land to provide new council homes
- Dining Hall, Homerton College, Cambridge – Feilden Fowles Architects: the new building has become the focal point in the college’s social and cultural life
- Farmworker's House – Hugh Strange Architects: a single–storey courtyard house for a farm manager, considerate of the surrounding rural landscape
- House on Redbrae Farm – McGonigle McGrath Architects: a rural house that is both local and foreign, traditional and modern
- King’s Cross Masterplan – Allies and Morrison and Porphyrios Associates: this pioneering masterplan has set a new bar in city making
- National Portrait Gallery – Jamie Fobert Architects and Purcell: a significant transformation aimed at enhancing the visitor experience and revitalising the historic
- spaces
- New Temple Complex – James Gorst Architects: adomed temple with an arrival sequence that leads from secular to ritual spaces
- North Gate Social Housing – Page\Park Architects: an urban social housing scheme has been designed to suit the needs of older residents
- Paddington Elizabeth Line Station – Weston Williamson + Partners: an addition to London's transport network that brings daylight and fresh air to platform level
- Park Hill Phase 2 – Mikhail Riches: the retrofit is part of the ongoing regeneration of the Grade II* listed, Brutalist estate
- Royal Academy of Dance – Takero Shimazaki Architects: the RAD’s new home is the ground floor of a new residential tower on a main thoroughfare
- Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings – Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios: a full refurbishment of a hugely important historic structure into a new leisure destination
- Six Columns – 31/44 Architects: a house designed to accommodate the family within their existing neighbourhood
- Thames Christian School & Battersea Chapel – Henley Halebrown: the six–storey building provides the church and school with a new community hall and sanctuary
- The Arbour – Boehm Lynas and GS8: 10 homes on a constrained backland, brownfield site in the heart of Walthamstow Village
- The Black & White Building – Waugh Thistleton Architects: the tallest engineered timber office building in central London
- The Elizabeth Line – Grimshaw, Maynard, Equation, Atkins: the most significant contribution to London’s transportation in over 20 years
- The Fruitmarket Gallery – Reiach and Hall Architects: the much–loved Edinburgh gallery has been reinvented and enlarged
- WongAvery Gallery – Níall McLaughlin Architects: a new music practice and performance space for Trinity Hall, Cambridge
- Wraxall Yard – Clementine Blakemore Architects: a sensitively restored dairy farm offering inclusive holiday accommodation, a community space, and educational smallholding
This isn’t a ranking; all of these projects have placed equally. However, they’ll all have the chance to be shortlisted for building of the year (the Stirling Prize) later this month, so keep an eye out for that.
You can learn more about all the winners on the RIBA website here and see a gallery of all the winning London buildings here.
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