This year's selection of finalists is impressive in variety and brightness - for the first time since the 2008 crisis. At the same time, five of the six buildings are public non-commercial structures, and even the sixth - the London Renzo Piano skyscraper The Shard - is available to everyone: along with offices and housing, there are restaurants, a hotel, a clinic and an observation deck. At the same time, no less interesting objects were left behind, for example, two notable London reconstructions - the Tate-Britan Gallery by Caruso St John and the King's Cross station by John MacAslan. Obviously, the jury members had plenty to choose from - unlike last year, when the Sterling Prize was awarded to a tactful and interesting, but very modest reconstruction of a historic house.
Stephen Hodder, the current president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), also the first Sterling Prize winner Stephen Hodder, noted that he does not envy judges who are forced to choose the best from a selection of interesting, detailed, enriching the urban environment, poetic and simply beautiful buildings. …
As noted by the RIBA Journal, the 2014 shortlist is split in half. So, three buildings are the work of foreigners: the aforementioned Piano, the Irish O'Donnell + Tuomey (
Student Center. So Swee Hock, London School of Economics) and Mecanoo (Birmingham Central Library). Three facilities were designed by women - Zaha Hadid (Olympic Aquatics Center), Francine Huben from Mecanoo and Sheila O'Donnell from O'Donnell + Tuomey. Three buildings are located outside London - the Birmingham Library, the Euryman Theater in Liverpool by Haworth Tompkins and the Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios Manchester School of Art.
The Sterling Prize has been awarded by RIBA since 1996: buildings that have already received a national or European RIBA award for the current year and have been designed by member architects of the institute can apply for it. The winner will be announced on October 16, 2014 at a ceremony at RIBA's London headquarters.
