This time the award went to the Evelyn Grace Academy building. It is an experimental high school for 1,200 students, built in the Brixton residential area of south London with a memorable zig-zag layout.
According to RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) President and Prize Jury Chair, Angela Brady, the academy building is "an exceptional example of what can be achieved by intelligently and thoughtfully investing in high-quality architectural solutions." The project, which eventually won the Sterling Prize, cost £ 37.5 million to complete.
Recall that among the applicants for the annual award for the best architectural projects implemented in Britain, this year also nominated David Chipperfield and his Folkwang Museum in the German city of Essen, the Center for the Irish Language, Art and Culture An Gaelaras by O'Donnell & Tuomey, London office building The Angel Bureau AHMM, Olympic Velodrome Michael Hopkins and the Royal Shakespeare Theater in Stratford-upon-Avon, renovated by Bennetts Associates.
The main distinguishing feature of this year's shortlisted award is that for the first time in 15 years of the award's existence, it consisted entirely of architectural firms that had already been nominated for it before. As for Zaha Hadid, she not only already received the Sterling Prize, but became its laureate last year. The then-awarded Rome Museum of 21st Century Art - MAXXI also features a complex master plan, dominated by broken zigzag lines. However, the question of what made the jury members celebrate Zaha Hadid with the country's highest architectural award for the second year in a row remained unanswered. But it is clear that the most famous woman architect managed to set a new record - in the entire 15 years of the Sterling Prize's history, not a single designer has received an award for two years in a row.
The 2011 Sterling Awards ceremony took place on the evening of October 1 at the Magna Science and Entertainment Center in Rotherham, London.
A. M.
UPD: The Olympic Velodrome, although it did not receive the Sterling Prize, was both a favorite of the bookmakers and a favorite of the public (62% of Internet voting participants voted for it). But he did not remain without a prize: he received the Prime Minister's Better Public Building Award.
The Lyubetkin Prize, awarded by RIBA for the best construction of its member-architect outside Europe, went to The Met skyscraper in Bangkok, designed by the Singapore-based WOHA bureau.
N. F.
