Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners beats off competition from BDP and Eric Parry to win prestigious award for the second time

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners has won the RIBA Stirling Prize for the second time.

The practice scooped £20,000 for its Maggie’s Centre, a cancer care facility in west London, beating BDP’s Liverpool One masterplan and Eric Parry’s St. Martin-in-the-Fields restoration, in London among others.

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners came first three years ago for Barajas Airport in Spain.

In a press release the RIBA said the building successfully created a haven for those who have been diagnosed with cancer.

“Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners’ achievement is in having created a completely informal, home-like sanctuary to help patients learn to live with cancer.”

The building – designed as the antithesis of a hospital – is a two-storey pavilion with a roof canopy hovering above the walls and over a series of gardens, courtyards and roof terraces. It is encircled with an orange wall to provide separation from the rest of the city.

There are six Maggie’s Centres in the UK designed for terminally ill cancer patients by well-known architects including Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid. The foundation behind them was created by architecture writer, Charles Jencks whose wife died of the disease. He is the client on the jobs.

Meanwhile, in a contentious move, all six clients shortlisted for the prize received the best client award.

RIBA judges said: “This was a positive decision in an exceptional year which produced some remarkable clients. The RIBA Awards Group wished to celebrate the achievements of all six in the same way.”

The prize was shared between:

  • Peter Sharpe on behalf of the Kielder Partnership, for the Kielder Observatory in Northumberland by Charles Barclay Architects
  • Dr Roy Macgregor on behalf of Camden & Islington Community Solutions, for the Kentish Town Health Centre in London by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
  • Peter Millican on behalf of Parabola Land, for Kings Place in London by Dixon Jones
  • Rod Holmes on behalf of Grosvenor, for the Liverpool One Masterplan, Liverpool by BDP
  • Laura Lee on behalf of Maggie's, for Maggie's Centre, London by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
  • Rev Nicholas Holtam for St Martin-in-the-Fields, London by Eric Parry Architects and Caroe & Partners (Conservation Architect)

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