Escuela Burntwood

Awarded yearly by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to a work built by a British architect or studio within the European Union, the Stirling Prize is presented to “the architects of the building that has made the greatest contribution to the evolution of architecture in the past year.” On this occasion, the prize has gone to the project to remodel and extend Burntwood School in Wandsworth (London) by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM). The selected project is the transformation of a girls’ secondary school built in the 1950s by renowned architect Sir Leslie Martin, to which six faculty buildings and two cultural buildings have been added, including sports facilities and spaces for the performing arts. The new blocks are interspersed with gardens and plazas, and the enclosure is made of precast concrete panels with canted edges and different sized glazing panels. The studio – with offices in London, Bristol, and Oklahoma City – had been shortlisted before, and it now joins the list of previous Stirling Prize-awardees like Zaha Hadid, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, and Foster + Partners.