The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced this year's winners of its annual National Awards and EU Awards. The competitions offer an excellent opportunity to look at some of Europe's most interesting new architecture. This year's UK winners include a variety of building types, and most of the country is well-represented (except Wales, which didn't snag a single win). A chapel in a back garden in Edinburgh, a visitor museum in Northern Ireland's Giant's Causeway, and a commercial building on London's Regent Street all attest to the range of buildings which took the judge's fancy. However, educational facilities were the big winners this year, with a full third of the winners dedicated to learning.
The standout offering from mainland Europe, meanwhile, must be the striking Enzo Ferrari Museum in Italy, which sports a 3,300 sq m (35,000 sq ft) yellow sculpted aluminum roof. The roof comes complete with functioning air intake vents that offer additional ventilation to the building.
"Risk-taking is not for the faint-hearted in recessionary times, but amongst this year’s crop of truly exceptional buildings, I am delighted to see such a variety of projects doing just that," says RIBA President Angela Brady. "From Jesmond Gardens, an open-plan primary school in Hartlepool with rooms divided simply by acoustic curtains, and the mould-breaking North London day-care hospice modeled on an over-sized house to appeal sensitively to its patients, to the Hive in Worcester, the first library for shared use by both the public and a University."
All 43 UK-based National Awards winners and nine winning entries from the EU Awards now qualify for a chance at winning the RIBA Stirling Prize competition. RIBA will whittle down the entries to announce a shortlist in July, before announcing the winner at Central Saint Martins in London on September 26.
Head to the image gallery to see the collection in full.
Source: RIBA
