Timber returns to the RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist.
The shortlist for the prestigious RIBA Stirling Prize 2022 has been announced, with two timber buildings – the Magdalene College Library and Sands End Arts and Community Centre – making up two of the six shortlisted entrants.
Designed by Niall McLaughlin Architects, the Magdalene College Library was the 2021 Wood Awards Gold Award winner, with the judges describing the structure as a “tour de force of architectural design and achievement”.
TDUK recently hosted a designTimber webinar on the library, where the architects and engineers went into more detail on the inspiration and challenges of the project. The webinar can be watched here.
The Sands End Arts and Community Centre was also featured in last year’s Wood Awards. Designed by Mæ, the new centre comprises a refurbished Grade-II listed Clancarty Lodge and a series of flexible, newly built one-storey pavilions clustered around the original structure.
Timber entrants are not new to the Stirling Prize, with Goldsmith Street, a timber-framed social housing development in Norwich, winning the prize in 2019.
In 2021, the timber Cambridge Central Mosque was also a shortlisted entrant.
Both the Magdalene College Library and Sands End Arts and Community Centre highlight how buildings, regardless of their purpose, can be both sustainable and beautiful in design and function. I encourage members to have a look and read the full shortlist of this year’s entrants here.
The winner of the 2022 RIBA Stirling Prize will be announced on Thursday 13 October 2022 at RIBA, 66 Portland Place in London. We wish the timber entrants the best of luck!