Stirling Prize shortlist announced

This year’s shortlist for the Stirling Prize once again makes the chance of an award outside the UK more than likely, writes Eleanor Young.

The six-strong list includes one home that is more than a house, two schools and three cultural buildings. The cultural buildings by the grand figures of British architecture – David Chipperfield, Zaha Hadid and, to a lesser extent, Rick Mather - are likely to be the front runners for the prize announced on 2nd October. Hugh Pearman describes it as a ‘royal battle’ (see his verdict below).

Berlin’s Neues Museum by David Chipperfield Architects with Julian Harrap Architects is an impressive almost archaeological reworking of the bomb damaged 1800s building which Hugh Pearman described as the work of a ‘powerful, fully engaged mind working at full stretch’. Zaha Hadid’s MAXXI in Rome meanwhile perplexed many of those who have visited with its lack of exhibits and overt programme. But the gallery’s architectural strength is that it was conceived at a time when Hadid’s hand on the design was more visible than the influence of parametricism.

Will Rick Mather’s Ashmolean Museum get a look in? Possibly though its interleaving of spaces is hemmed in Charles Cockerell’s original museum. But if the judges are looking for a worthy British winner they are more likely to turn to the schools by dRMM and DSDHA either of which would send a valuable political message to education secretary Michael Gove of the value of school design (both are notably outside the BSF process). dRMM’s vigorous and colourful addition to Clapham Manor Primary School makes the existing board school work much harder while Christ’s College Secondary School in Guildford has been recognized at ministerial level as one of the most improved since the move into DSDHA’s new building.

The history of the Stirling Prize shows that while there is often a spread of building types on the shortlist the winners are predominantly public in some way. So despite its the mix of uses and complex, yet resolved, plan Bateman’s Row by and for Theis and Kahn seems an unlikely contender for the final prize. In fact the only UK cultural project that might have punched its weight alongside the Neues and MAXXI is Nottingham Contemporary by Caruso St John. And that doesn’t even appear on the shortlist.
Deciding on the eventual winners are the judges: Edward Jones of Dixon.Jones, BBC presenter Mark Lawson, historian and broadcaster Lisa Jardine, Ivan Harbour of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Ruth Reed, president of the RIBA.

Hugh Pearman’s view
This shortlist is likely to be seen as a battle royal between Chipperfield/Harrap and Zaha Hadid, writes Hugh Pearman.

Those who dislike expressionist architecture will be rooting for the former, whose enlightened re-working of Berlin’s Neues Museum is masterly. But Zaha stakes a considerable claim with MAXXI, another design which took years to bring to fruition. These days it’s fashionable to knock Zaha as an icon-builder, but MAXXI, with its spectacular sequence of interiors, shows her at the top of her game.

Rick Mather’s Ashmolean revamp in Oxford is very ingenious indeed, doubling this venerable museum’s capacity in a way that makes the intensely complex look effortless. It would be nice if it was Rick’s year - he so nearly won the Stirling in the early days for one of his splendid houses, and this would cap his career. I wouldn’t fancy his chances against the Neues, though.

The schools are good, but don’t look to me like Stirling-winning material given this level of competition - unless the judges wish to send a political message. Ditto the house/gallery in Shoreditch by Theis and Khan.

As always, there is one interesting omission from the list. Caruso St. John’s Nottingham Contemporary certainly divides opinion but is brave and inquiring in its New Ornamentalist architecture, and built on an extraordinarily awkward site. Perhaps that was one gallery/museum too many for one year.

My head says that Chipperfield and Harrap ought to win it for Berlin’s Neues Museum. My heart, however, is for Mather and the Ashmolean. Whatever, it’s a good competitive year for the Stirling.