Caruso St John's Newport Street Gallery wins the 2016 Stirling Prize
![Newport Street Gallery](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/LonJLFcnYNSHH4Q4BrDN3-415-80.jpg)
The suspense kept us on the edge of our seat for months, but the votes have been counted and the results are now in – Damien Hirst's Newport Street Gallery by Caruso St John Architects has scooped the prestigious 2016 RIBA Stirling Prize, one of the country’s highest architecture accolades.
Announced this evening at a dedicated ceremony at the RIBA’s art deco HQ on London's Portland Place, and sponsored this year by Almacantar, the Stirling annually highlights buildings that represent a ‘significant contribution to British architecture in the past year’.
Picking this is never an easy task. Newport Street Gallery had to fight off stiff competition by a group of worthy nominees, including the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, by Herzog & de Meuron; the City of Glasgow College's Riverside Campus, by Michael Laird Architects and Reiach and Hall Architects; the Outhouse, Gloucestershire, by Loyn & Co Architects; Trafalgar Place, Elephant and Castle, London, by dRMM Architects; and the Weston Library, University of Oxford, by WilkinsonEyre.
Preceding the announcement, Peter St John – partner at Caruso St John Architects – explained of the project: 'It's rare for architects to be given the opportunity to realise a personal vision of the quality of the Newport Street Gallery, and for that vision to have a generous public dimension. We see the building as a palace for direct, intimate and luxurious encounters with contemporary art, and we are very pleased that this award will bring more people to see this extraordinary collection.'
The Stephen Lawrence Prize and the RIBA Client of the Year were also revealed during the event, with gongs going to House of Trace by Tsuruta Architects and Westmorland Limited respectively. Meanwhile, the Outhouse won the BBC News public vote for the readers' favourite.
Now in its 21st year, a Stirling Prize book has also just been launched, celebrating its first 20 remarkable years. Published by Merrell, authored by former RIBA head of awards Tony Chapman and including a foreword by 2007 Stirling winner Sir David Chipperfield, the tome is an enthusiast’s feast; essential architectural reading at its best.
Nominee: Riverside Campus, City of Glasgow College, by Michael Laird Architects and Reiach and Hall Architects.
Nominee: Blavatnik School Of Government, University of Oxford, by Herzog & de Meuron.
Nominee: Outhouse, Gloucestershire, by Loyn & Co Architects.
Nominee: Trafalgar Place, Elephant and Castle, London, by dRMM Architects.
INFORMATION
The Riba Stirling Prize: 20, £40, is published by Merrell. For more information, visit the RIBA website and the Merrell website
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
Take off: Mathieu Lehanneur's Olympic Cauldron rises into the Parisian night sky
The Paris 2024 Olympics’ opening ceremony was closed with a soaring cauldron spectacle that will go down in history
By Hugo Macdonald Published
-
Phaidon’s new Graphic Classics is a lavish greatest hits of graphic design
Graphic Classics is a compendium of seven centuries of visual culture, from the everyday and ephemeral to visionary works that reshaped our world
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Birley Chocolate hits the sweet ’n’ chic spot in London’s Chelsea
The new Birley Chocolate shop, a sibling to Birley Bakery, is a confection of colour as delicious as its finely crafted goods
By Melina Keays Published
-
Tour the Natural History Museum’s new gardens, a Jurassic lark in London
The Natural History Museum in London has unveiled two new gardens, with resident dinosaurs, after a transformation led by architects Feilden Fowles
By Bridget Downing Published
-
Drama Republic moves into a colourful, handcrafted workspace in London
For the new creative HQ of production company Drama Republic, Emil Eve Architects remodels a warehouse into office space in London’s Holborn
By Léa Teuscher Published
-
Hideaway House in London features timber panelling inspired by the New York hospitality scene
The elegantly refurbished Hideaway House by Studio McW in London features timber panelling inspired by Philip Johnson’s The Four Seasons Restaurant
By Léa Teuscher Published
-
2024 RIBA National Awards: browse the list of worthy winners
The 2024 RIBA National Awards have been announced, comprising 26 projects across the UK
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
‘Modern Buildings’ tours south-east London through a guide to post-war Blackheath and Greenwich
‘Modern Buildings: Blackheath and Greenwich’ is a detailed survey of a London borough’s rich trove of new modernist architecture
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Triangle House invites you to its inner world of colourful surprises
Triangle House by Artefact is a private home in Epsom, outside London, combining Caribbean style, colour and functionality
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Tour the refreshed Saint Andrew Holborn: an icon reveals its crisp new interior in London
DaeWha Kang reimagines Saint Andrew Holborn church through a sensitive architectural solution that blends tradition and modernity in London
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
A Suffolk house by Studio Bark pairs a fresh visual language with low-energy design
Suffolk house Water Farm is off-the-grid but defiantly on the map, a bold new object in the landscape with a strong visual impact and minimal carbon footprint
By Jonathan Bell Published