Oct 16 2006
Barajas Airport in Madrid, designed by Richard Rogers Partnership, has won the 11th RIBA Stirling Prize in association with The Architects’ Journal. The presentation of the UK’s premier architectural award took place at a glittering awards ceremony.
This is the first time a Richard Rogers Partnership building has won the prize.
The judges commented:
“Whatever the means of approach, by air or by land, the sheer scale and complexity of what has been tackled and achieved here cannot be over-estimated. In response to the key challenge: that of efficiently processing constantly changing passenger flows and associated luggage handling, the resulting building presents a straightforward linear diagram in the form of a clear sequence of spectacular spaces for both departing and arriving passengers.”
“Graduated colour is used, not as in most Rogers’s schemes, to delineate services, but for wayfinding. The elegant oversailing roof is a unifying device and succeeds in being both dominant and yet calmly and self-assuredly understated. The sinuous, lightweight consistency of the bamboo slatted lining contrasts with the modular repetition of the gymnastic steel roof structure that in turn is supported off a monumental concrete frame. The structure accommodates vast rooflights that provide shaded daylight throughout the upper level. Intentionally expressive air conditioning outlets, that resemble giant bar code readers, animate the baggage collection stands.”
“The building is robust enough to withstand the results of minor battles lost in terms of signage and shopping, the simplicity and clarity of the architectural ambition being all-dominant. Nowhere more so than externally, where the roof again emerges as the defining feature, sweeping across the building, cloaking the richness within and reinforcing the extruded nature of this infinitely extendable tour de force.”
Jack Pringle, RIBA President, announced the winner and Isabel Allen, Editor of The Architects’ Journal presented Richard Rogers with the prize and a cheque for £20,000.
Barajas Airport beat off stiff competition from five other outstanding contenders: Brick House, London - Caruso St John Architects; Evelina Children’s Hospital, London - Hopkins Architects; Idea Store, Whitechapel, London – Adjaye/Associates; National Assembly for Wales, Cardiff - Richard Rogers Partnership; Phaeno Science Centre, Wolfsburg, Germany - Zaha Hadid Architects and Mayer Bährle Freie Architekten BDA, Germany.
The RIBA Stirling Prize jury, comprising architecture specialists and lay judges visited all six shortlisted buildings and then met for a final time this afternoon to cast their votes. The judges were: Ian Ritchie – architect and panel Chair; Isabel Allen – Editor, The Architects’ Journal; Stefan Behnisch – architect; Mariella Frostrup – journalist and broadcaster; and Martha Schwartz – landscape architect.
This is the eleventh year the RIBA Stirling Prize has been presented. Last year’s winner was The Scottish Parliament, designed by EMBT / RMJM. The previous winners are: 30 St. Mary Axe by Foster and Partners; the Laban Centre, London by Herzog & de Meuron; Gateshead Millennium Bridge by Wilkinson Eyre; Magna, Rotherham by Wilkinson Eyre; Peckham Library and Media Centre by Alsop and Störmer; the NatWest Media Centre at Lord’s Cricket Ground by Future Systems; the American Air Museum at Duxford by Foster and Partners; The Music School, Stuttgart by Michael Wilford and Partners; and the Centenary Building, University of Salford, by Hodder Associates.