Only Alison Brooks, co-creator of the 2008 winning Accordia project in Cambridge, was shortlisted for the second time. This is a rarity for this award, where usually at least half of the finalists are distinguished masters of British architecture who have been nominated and even received the Sterling more than once. In addition, for the first time in 18 years of the award's existence, not a single London building has been nominated.
In another breakthrough this year, half of the finalist bureaus are headed by women: in addition to the mentioned Brooks, they are Irish architects Royshn Henegan of heneghan peng architects and Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell of Grafton Architects.
This year, not a single "iconic", "fashionable" building is nominated for the award, this is all very serious architecture, rather modest than bright, although it cannot be denied originality. The only completely public building on the list is
Giant's Trail Visitor Center by heneghan peng architects. This is an information center at a UNESCO site in Northern Ireland: the architects won the competition for this project due to their tactfulness, which does not distract attention from the nearby natural monument, and these same qualities attracted the attention of the jury of the award.
Also among the finalists -
Bishop Edward King's Chapel at Ripon Theological College near Oxford, built by Niall McLaughlin Architects. It is to this project, which many readers of Archi.ru have liked, that bookmakers predict a victory. The customer described this building as follows: "This is what we dreamed of, but did not think that we would get it."
The University of Limerick School of Medicine and Residences in Ireland, Grafton is the only building outside the UK to qualify for Stirling -2013. The jury appreciated the excellent public space created by the architects, as well as the high quality of the project in general, which the architects achieved despite an extremely modest budget.
The other three projects belong to the residential typology. The suburban complex Newhall Be, built by Alison Brooks Architects in Harlow, near London, consists of 84 houses. The architects persuaded the developers to include in the project full-height windows, dedicated offices, and roof-terraces.
Funds for these "non-standard" elements were obtained through the construction of additional 6 houses, the land for which was found, reducing the area of the courtyards. However, the losses were compensated for by the residents of the exploited roofs. Particular attention of the architects was devoted to protecting the private space from the views of passers-by and neighbors. The jury considered the project outstanding in comparison to a typical British new home.
No less interesting is another finalist - the 1st stage of reconstruction of the Park Hill residential area in Sheffield by Hawkins / Brown, Studio Egret West and landscape architects Grant Associates. The facility being renovated is a social housing complex (1957–61), one of the earliest examples of mass development instead of slums.
Since then, such buildings have been accused of hostility to humans, poor quality of the environment and construction, stimulation of criminal activity, etc. One of the recent victims of this dislike has become
London's Robin Hood Gardens by Alison and Peter Smithson (1968–72), but Park Hill was more fortunate: in 1998 it was given the status of a monument (with a total size of 995 apartments, it became the largest heritage site in Britain), so it is not threatened with demolition.
The architects replaced the brick facades of the 78 apartment building with bright anodized aluminum panels, renewed the balustrades of the "streets in the sky" - open galleries where the entrance doors of the dwellings open, increased the glazing area of the northern and eastern facades and the area of the apartments themselves, bars, added a new staircase and an elevator. The investor was Urban Splash, known in particular for its
social housing designed by Will Alsop.
Another renovation on the Sterling Prize list is the Astley estate in Nuneaton in central England, updated by Witherford Watson Mann Architects. This is a burnt-out ruin left over from a 12th century castle. The architects, in fact, built a new house into it, which, nevertheless, does not interfere with the perception of the monument.
The explicit link to the Middle Ages was very important, as the client was the Landmark Trust, a foundation that preserves historic buildings through short-term leases.
The announcement and awarding of the laureate will take place on September 26 in London. At the same time, the winner of the Lubetkin Prize will be named, which is awarded for the construction of an architect-member of RIBA outside the EU (while the Sterling Prize is limited to the territory of Europe).
In 2013, "proven" masters apply for it: last year's winner Wilkinson Eyre, this time with
by the greenhouses of Singapore's Gardens by the Bay, 2007 laureate Nicholas Grimshaw with the Via Verde social housing array in New York and 2011 nominee Zaha Hadid with the Galaxy Soho complex in Beijing.
