The UK’s Best Buildings: Meet the 2017 RIBA Stirling Prize Nominees

THIS year's Stirling Prize is set to be announced on 31 October.

The annual award, given by the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA), recognises a “building that has made the greatest contribution to the evolution of architecture.”

Before 2017's winner is announced, we're taking a look at this year’s six shortlisted buildings through these six great videos (courtesy of the RIBA Architecture YouTube channel). 

THE BRITISH MUSEUM’S WORLD CONSERVATION AND EXHIBITION CENTRE

ROGERS STIRK HARBOUR + PARTNERS

Extending the 260-year old British Museum was a prestigious, as well as a daunting task. The new World Conservation and Exhibition Centre, designed by Rogers Strik Habour + Partners is a discreet insertion into the centuries-old compound. Even though the project adds a new major exhibitions space to the museum, the out-of-sight underground storage and conservation work areas are just as important.

At a total cost of £135M, the extension enables the British Museum to bring back its priceless artefacts from far-flung storages. This isn’t the first time a re-modelling of the British Museum has received critical acclaim. In 2003, Foster + Partners received a Stirling Prize nomination for the renovation of the museum’s Great Court.

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners is the only practice on this year's shortlist to have won the Stirling Prize before, in both 2004 and 2009.

BARETTS GROVE

AMIN TAHA + GROUPWORK

There’s more to this small speculative development containing six apartments in north-east London than meets the eye. The exterior features a decorative brick bond and wicker balconies, while the interior consists of exposed cross-laminated timber. This helped to keep construction costs down and ensured a shorter build time.

Learn more about the trend for new buildings being made out of timber here.

CITY OF GLASGOW COLLEGE CAMPUS

REIACH AND HALL ARCHITECTS

The City Of Glasgow College’s new City Campus provides more than 60,000 square metres of space for vocational training and professional education. It is Scotland’s largest college and despite the building’s scale, it creates a welcoming environment for students and staff.

Last year, Reiach and Hall Architects and Michael Laird Architects’ Riverside Campus for the City of Glasgow College was also shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize.

HASTINGS PIER  

dRMM ARCHITECTS

Replacing the famed Victorian structure that burned down in 2010, the Hastings Pier that reopened in 2016 is a very different prospect. Now in care of the Hastings Pier Charity, it has been rebuilt as a vast, open public square jutting out into the sea.

The pier contains only two buildings; the restored Victorian Pavilion and a newly built cafe clad in wooden planks that survived the fire. The rest of the pier is left poetically empty, allowing it to come alive for funfairs, markets and other events.

PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO FOR JUERGEN TELLER

6a ARCHITECTS

The studio for London-based photographer Juergen Teller is in fact a sequence of three buildings arranged on a long, narrow lot interrupted by serene garden patios. The compound contains offices, archives, informal meeting spaces as well as a large open studio space in the middle. Built overwhelmingly from concrete, the building forms a robust, stripped-down backdrop to the surreal reality of Teller’s photography.

COMMAND OF THE OCEANS

BAYNES AND MITCHELL ARCHITECTS

An exaggerated pitch of the roof, as well as the black zinc cladding mark the presence of the latest addition to Chatham’s Historic Dockyards. Distinct, yet minimal, the new hall connects the exhibition spaces that tell the story of this historic site, while the internal timber structure refers to the traditional architecture of the older buildings.

But the new extension is not just an entrance and a connective element, it also shelters remains of an old ship that was discovered on the site.

WHO WILL WIN? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or on our social media channels.