The Stirling shortlist 2011

Dose of unpredictability needed

Words Hugh Pearman

This year’s Stirling shortlist is as follows, in alphabetical order of the practice:

AHMM: the Angel Building, London. A radical transformation and extension of an existing time-expired office building (RIBAJ, November 2010);
Bennetts Associates:  the ingeniously rebuilt Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-on-Avon (RIBAJ, February 2011);
David Chipperfield Architects: Folkwang modern art museum extension, Essen, Germany;
Zaha Hadid Architects: Evelyn Grace Academy, Brixton, London, her first school;
Hopkins Architects: the Olympic Velodrome, Stratford, London (RIBAJ, April 2011)
O’Donnell & Tuomey: Irish Language Arts and Cultural Centre, Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

So there is no wild card, no youthful first appearance to celebrate, on the 16th Stirling shortlist. In fact all the architects on it are repeat nominees. They have been there twice before each in the case of AHMM, Bennetts Associates, Hopkins and O’Donnell & Tuomey: four times for Zaha Hadid; and six times for David Chipperfield, who in 2007 had two buildings represented.  And of course there are two previous winners on the shortlist: Chipperfield in 2007 for the Museum of Modern Literature in Marbach, Germany; and Zaha Hadid in 2010 for the MAXXII contemporary art museum in Rome.

As usual, London provides the bulk of the contenders with only one practice - Dublin-based O’Donnell & Tuomey – being from outside the British capital (they being in their own capital). This is normal. Regional Stirling nominees could form a very exclusive club indeed and there has to date been only one overall winner from the British regions: Manchester-based Stephen Hodder in its first year, 1996, before the Prize broadened out to include the rest of Europe.

Given the vast concentration of architects in the capital, this is perhaps inevitable.  But there are other oddities about the Stirling.  A one-off house very seldom makes an appearance, perhaps because these days the Manser medal mops up all the best ones. Office buildings are another relative rarity, especially spec offices (Foster’s Gherkin, which won in 2004, proves that interesting skyscrapers trump spec floorplates) This year is an exception however, given the appearance of AHMM’s Angel Building.  Generally cultural, civic, educational and transport buildings tend to predominate.

These are all very fine buildings. But I do find myself wishing that the Stirling judging process – which in turn derives from the long-list provided by the general awards -  allowed more of an element of the unexpected. Encouraging younger practices, for instance, was one of the informal intentions of the prize when it was first set up. This is not easy – overall excellence must be the watchword – but perhaps it is time to consider such ways to make the Stirling less predictable. Sir James Stirling himself, after all, never played it safe.