Controversial building lands top prize

CORK’S Glucksman gallery has lost out to the controversial Scottish Parliament building to land Britain’s most prestigious architecture prize.

The multi-award-winning project beat off challenges from five other contenders to scoop the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Stirling Prize, dubbed the “Oscars of architecture”.

The £431 million (€631m) favourite, whose design was inspired by upturned boats, was called a “statement of sparkling excellence” by judges.

Enric Miralles, the Spanish architect of Holyrood - which was built three years late and more than 10-times over budget - died in July 2000 before the building was completed but his widow, Benedetta Tagliabue, collected the prize at the awards in Edinburgh.

The building saw off competition from five other buildings - the Lewis Glucksman Gallery in Cork; BMW Central Building in Leipzig, Germany; the Jubilee Library in Brighton; the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking and the Fawood Children’s Centre in Harlesden, north-west London.

The £20,000 (€29,296) prize, now in its 10th year, is awarded to architects anywhere in the European Union for the building that has made the greatest contribution to British architecture in the past year.

Previous winners include London’s St Mary Axe, known as “the gherkin”, the Gateshead Millennium Bridge and the Laban dance centre in Deptford, south-east London.

The judges included Jack Pringle, president elect of the RIBA; Isabel Allen, editor of The Architects’ Journal; broadcaster and writer Joan Bakewell; environmental engineer Max Fordham and architect, writer and broadcaster, Piers Gough.

They said: “The Scottish Parliament building is a remarkable architectural statement which has an enormous impact not only on the visitors to the building but also on the users who repeatedly move through a series of extraordinary spaces and their changing effects.

“The proof of the extraordinary architectural ambition and design vision is to be seen in every aspect and detail of the finished building.

“At the outset, Miralles made a major contribution in leading the clients towards a proper understanding of their needs and the final formulation of the role and function of the building.”

They said the building “manifests itself as an attempt at an organic transition between the city and the drama of the Scottish countryside surrounding it” - an effect helped by its landscaping.