Riba Stirling Prize: Kingston University complex named UK's best new building

The Royal Institute of British Architects (Riba) praised the building as a "progressive new model for higher education"

Kingston University London's student Town House has been named the UK's best new building, winning the prestigious Riba Stirling Prize 2021.

The "warm, dynamic" building, which contains a dance studio and library, was designed by Grafton Architects to encourage collective learning.

Judges of the annual architecture award described it as "a theatre for life" and "a warehouse of ideas".

It topped a shortlist of six buildings, which included housing for key workers.

• The architectural wonders vying for the Riba Stirling Prize

'The future of education'

Architect Lord Foster, chair of this year's prize jury, said Town House "seamlessly brings together student and town communities, creating a progressive new model for higher education, well deserving of international acclaim and attention".

He said it was a "highly original work of architecture" where "quiet reading, loud performance, research and learning can delightfully coexist".

"That is no mean feat," he added. "Education must be our future - and this must be the future of education."

The building's interior is visible from the street outside

The six-storey building in Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, is designed to welcome students, locals and visitors with few barriers. It contains a public forum, a library and a dance studio and theatre, as well as open terraces and roof gardens.

In a statement, Grafton Architects said they were "delighted" that their "spatial open matrix" had been selected, noting how they had always "imagined a place where students would feel at home".

"This building is about people, interaction, light, possibilities," they explained.

"It is about connecting to the community, the passer-by, an invitation to cross the threshold; a three-dimensional framework with layers of silence and layers of sound."

Town House has a public forum, a library, a dance studio and theatre

Vice-chancellor Professor Steven Spier said the students and community were "truly proud" of their new premises, which he described as "breathtaking" and "innovative".

He said: "We had an incredibly ambitious brief - to create a space for students that would allow them to benefit from knowing each other, a library to inspire learning, dance studios and a softening of the threshold between gown and town."

Last year's prize was cancelled due to the pandemic, but in 2019 it was won by an eco-friendly council estate in Norwich.

This year, Kingston University fended off competition from buildings including housing for key workers and a mosque in Cambridge.

The shortlist for the Riba Stirling Prize 2021:

• WINNER: Kingston University London - Town House by Grafton Architects

• Cambridge Central Mosque by Marks Barfield Architects

• 15 Clerkenwell Close, London by Groupwork

• Key Worker Housing - Eddington, Cambridge by Stanton Williams

• Tintagel Castle Footbridge for English Heritage, Cornwall by Ney & Partners and William Matthews Associates

• Windermere Jetty Museum, Cumbria by Carmody Groarke