Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery Wins 2016 RIBA Stirling Prize for the Best Building of the Year
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Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery in London, designed by Caruso St John Architects has won the 2016 RIBA Stirling Prize as best new building—one of the most prestigious architectural accolades in the UK. The award comes sixteen years after Caruso St J
Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery Wins 2016 RIBA Stirling Prize for the Best Building of the Year
Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery in London, designed by Caruso St John Architects has won the 2016 RIBA Stirling Prize as best new building—one of the most prestigious architectural accolades in the UK. The award comes sixteen years after Caruso St John Architects’ was first included on the shortlist, the firm has since made a name for itself as one of the UK’s leading architects of art gallery spaces.For Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery Caruso St John Architects transformed almost an entire street of listed industrial buildings in south London into a free public gallery housing the former YBA’s private art collection. The architecture practice had to remodel three listed Victorian industrial buildings (former carpentry and scenery painting workshops for West End theatres) for this purpose, as well as add entirely new buildings at either end, which were clad in a specially-created hard pale red brick finish to reference the original buildings. A “striking, spiky saw-tooth” roof can now also be found one of the new additions. The ground and upper floors of the ensemble are interconnected, with spiral staircases creating flexible spaces that can also accommodate larger shows.“This highly accomplished and expertly detailed art gallery is a bold and confident contribution to the best of UK architecture,” the Stirling prize jury chaired by Patrik Schumacher explained in a statement. “Caruso St John’s approach to conservation is irreverent yet sensitive and achieves a clever solution that expresses a poetic juxtaposition of old and new. The collection of buildings is beautifully curated, pulled together by the use of brick yet still expressive of their individuality.” RIBA President Jane Duncan also found warm words for Hirst’s engagement: “With Newport Street Gallery, Damien Hirst has made an exceptional contribution to the UK’s strong history of private patronage of architecture. Not only has Damien opened up his enviable private art collection to the world, but he has commissioned a real work of art to house it in.”Hirst’s gallery won against five shortlisted competitors: the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford by Herzog & de Meuron; the City of Glasgow College, Riverside Campus, by Michael Laird Architects & Reiach and Hall Architects; an Outhouse in Gloucestershire by Loyn & Co Architects; Trafalgar Place,’s Elephant and Castle, London, by dRMM Architects, and the Weston Library, University of Oxford by WilkinsonEyre. (More in the slide show)The House of Trace by Tsuruta Architects furthermore won the 2016 Stephen Lawrence Prize for projects that have a construction budget of less than £1 million; while Westmorland Limited won the 2016 RIBA Client of the Year.See more images of Damien Hirst’s award winning Newport Street Gallery and the shortlisted projects for 2016 in the slideshow. Read more
