In the first case, we are talking about the short list of the Sterling Prize, awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). In the second - about the "Carbuncle Cup", the accusatory project of Building Design magazine, which has existed for 7 years. It should be noted that the personalities overlap in both cases: in particular, Nicholas Grimshaw, a prominent high-tech master, acted as chairman of the Sterling jury, and its construction, the Cutty Sark sailing ship museum, can receive a Carbuncle (short - the list of his works are for the second year in a row).
The Sterling Prize finalists are selected by an internal jury of RIBA from a much longer list of annually awarded buildings. Buildings designed by a member of the institute on the territory of the European Union can apply for it (there is a Lyubetkin Prize for buildings outside Europe).
This year there are two OMA bureau buildings on the list, their first works in the UK (although
House of Music in Porto): Maggie Center at Garthnavel Hospital in Glasgow and headquarters of N M Rothschild & Sons in London.
Also among the applicants is David Chipperfield with the Hepworth-Wakefield Museum in Yorkshire. He was laureate in 2007 for a museum in Marbach, Germany, and for him this is the eighth nomination, which put him in a row with "record holder" Norman Foster.
The Lyric Theater in Belfast by O'Donnell & Tuomey is the fourth nomination for architects renowned for their subtle approach and attention to context.
The Sainsbury laboratory in Cambridge by Stanton Williams looks much more modest compared to the rest of the nominees: a discreet building is located in a historic park. Explorers' quarters alternate with public spaces (outdoor café) and border areas such as an elegant conference room.
The most controversial on the list was
2012 Olympic Stadium by the American Bureau Populous. Endless battles for budget savings have resulted in an uninteresting architecture, very expensive (486 thousand pounds) and conditionally functional: the key element of the project, the ability to dismantle the arena and take it to another place, will not be implemented as a result. The stadium will remain in London, only significantly reducing the number of seats after 2012 (from 80 to 25 thousand).
Severe cost savings and attention to the "sustainability" of projects are characteristic of the 2012 Games, but if relatively little steel went to the stadium (about 10 thousand tons), then the key object of the shortlist of the "Carbuncle Cup", a construction without a specific function 2,000 tonnes were consumed. This is an over 100 m high Orbit sculpture by artist Anish Kapoor and engineer Cecil Belmond, paid for by the steel company ArcelorMittal. Its purpose is to become a symbol of the Olympics and London. Despite the prestige of its creators, the sculpture, also used as an observation tower, aroused little enthusiasm among the British: both the public and journalists constantly call it ugly.
Also nominated for the cup by Building Design readers, among other buildings, are the Titanic Museum in Belfast by Todd Architects, the Shard End Library in Birmingham by the Idp Partnership, and the "museumification" of the sailing ship Cutty Sark in Greenwich by Nicholas Grimshaw.
N. F.
