Astley Castle, a modern holiday home inserted into the crumbling walls of a 12th century moated castle in Warwickshire, England, has won the 2013 RIBA Stirling Prize for the best building of the year. The architects responsible for the project, Witherford Watson Mann Architects, received their trophy at a ceremony held in London on 26 September 2013.
This year’s shortlist also included the Bishop King Edward Chapel, Cuddesdon, Oxfordshire (by Niall McLaughlin Architects), the Giant’s Causeway Visitor Centre, Northern Ireland (by heneghan peng architects), Newhall Be, Harlow (by Alison Brooks Architects), Park Hill Phase 1, Sheffield (by Hawkins\Brown with Studio Egret West) and the University of Limerick Medical School (by Grafton Architects). The contenders to the award, which the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has been running for 18 years, were judged by a panel comprising Sheila O’Donnell (architect, O’Donnell + Tuomey), Paul Williams (architect, Stanton Williams), Dame Vivien Duffield (philanthropist and Chair of the Clore Duffield Foundation), Tom Dyckhoff (journalist and broadcaster) and RIBA President Stephen Hodder.
The winners of other RIBA awards were also announced at the event. Cool Conservatories, Gardens by the Bay, Singapore (by Wilkinson Eyre Architects) won the RIBA Lubetkin Prize for the most outstanding work of international architecture outside the European Union by a member of the RIBA, whereas Slip House in Brixton, South London (by Carl Turner Architects) won the RIBA Manser Medal for the best new private home. The RIBA’s 2013 Stephen Lawrence Prize (set up in memory of Stephen Lawrence – the teenager who intended to become an architect when he was murdered in 1993 – and funded by the Marco Goldschmied Foundation to reward the best project with a construction budget of less than £1 million) went to AY architects’ Montpelier Community Nursery. The National Trust won the 2013 RIBA Client of the Year in recognition of their role in the delivery of fine architecture.