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.”
Maggie’s Centre: Stirling Prize Shortlist 2009
Will Wimshurst of Rogers, Stirk, Harbour + Partners explains the design of Maggie’s Centre, Hammersmith.
The Architects’ Journal has talked to the architects behind each of the six shortlisted projects for this year’s Stirling Prize.
The Royal Institute of British Architects’ Stirling Prize is the most prestigious award in British architecture.
Previous winners have included Norman Foster, Will Alsop, David Chipperfield and Richard Rogers.