Big Ben tower restoration up for architecture award

Ian YoungsCulture reporterHouse of CommonsThe five-year, £80m restoration of the Large Ben tower in London has been nominated for the UK’s main structure award, alongside a brand new style school campus, a science laboratory and an “creative” house extension.The refurbishment of Large Ben – formally referred to as the Elizabeth Tower – is among the many six nominees for the Royal Institute of British Architects’ Stirling Prize.The listing additionally contains the London Faculty of Style campus on the previous Olympic Park in east London and AstraZeneca’s medical analysis centre in Cambridge.They’re joined by the “pioneering” Appleby Blue Almshouse retirement house and the Japanese-inspired Niwa Home, each in south London, and an extension to an “eccentric” house in Hastings.The Elizabeth line – London’s east-west practice line – gained the distinguished award final yr.Hufton + CrowThe Elizabeth line gained final yr’s Stirling PrizeThe prize is given to the constructing judged to be “essentially the most important of the yr for the evolution of structure and the constructed surroundings”, and is judged on standards together with design imaginative and prescient, innovation and originality.It’s often given to a model new constructing, however may go to main restorations and renovations.Different earlier winners of the prize – first offered in 1996 – embody Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre, Hastings Pier and the Scottish Parliament constructing in Edinburgh.The 2025 nominees:Appleby Blue Almshouse by Witherford Watson Mann ArchitectsElizabeth Tower by PurcellHastings Home by Hugh Unusual ArchitectsLondon Faculty of Style by Allies and MorrisonNiwa Home by Takero Shimazaki ArchitectsThe Discovery Centre by Herzog and de Meuron/BDPRiba president Chris Williamson mentioned the shortlsted initiatives all “reveal structure’s distinctive capability to deal with a number of the most pressing challenges of our time, responding with creativity, adaptability and care”.Every gives “a blueprint for the way structure can enrich society”, and so they present a “hopeful imaginative and prescient for the longer term, one the place structure strengthens communities and helps form a extra sustainable and inclusive constructed surroundings”, he added.Appleby Blue Almshouse by Witherford Watson Mann ArchitectsPhilip VileThis social housing growth, with 57 flats for over-65s, in Southwark, south London, changed an deserted care house, and is billed as a contemporary model of the normal almshouse.The design is meant to “foster group and cut back isolation amongst residents”, Riba mentioned, with communal areas and shared services together with a kitchen and double-height backyard room. “The result’s a brand new commonplace for inclusive social housing in later life.”Elizabeth Tower by PurcellHouse of CommonsThe Elizabeth Tower is one in every of London’s best-known landmarks and is commonly referred to as Large Ben – though that is truly the title of the bell that produces the well-known bongs.Essentially the most in depth works to the tower in its 160-year historical past included repairs to the clock mechanism; modifications to the color scheme on the 4 clock faces to place again the Victorian blue and gold; and reinstating St George’s Cross flag emblems. Accessibility enhancements embody a brand new raise.The result’s described as “a veritable masterclass in conservation and craftsmanship” by the judges – though it got here at a value, going method over its unique finances, which was estimated at £29m to £45m.Hastings Home by Hugh Unusual ArchitectsRory GaylorThis late nineteenth Century indifferent hillside home within the East Sussex city has been prolonged with a collection of timber-framed rooms and industrial exterior options together with a concrete yard and galvanised metal staircase.”The consequence goes past a home extension, remodeling all the house and producing a lesson in restrained, creative reuse,” the judges mentioned.London Faculty of Style by Allies and MorrisonSimon MengesThe school beforehand had six buildings however the 6,000 college students and workers moved to the brand new 17-storey headquarters within the Queen Elizabeth Park in Stratford, east London, in 2023.Judges approvingly famous options together with its “dramatic staircases unfurling by a shared ‘coronary heart area’ to encourage collaboration”.Niwa Home by Takero Shimazaki ArchitectsFelix KochThis house, described as a “pavilion-like oasis”, was constructed on a beforehand derelict plot behind a row of terraced homes in south London for a household with a love of Japanese design. It was additionally designed to be accessible for a wheelchair-using resident.”The standard of sunshine all through the house is breathtaking,” the judges mentioned. “Giant full-height sliding doorways and full-height glazed partitions seamlessly mix indoors and out – opening areas to gardens, courtyards and balconies. It’s tough to see the place the constructing ends and the gardens start.”The Discovery Centre by Herzog and de Meuron/BDPHufton+CrowMedicine big AstraZeneca’s Discovery Centre “radically redefines the analysis facility”, in accordance with Riba, “mixing cutting-edge laboratories with welcoming public areas”.The placing constructing has a curved three-sided form, with a excessive, jagged exterior glass entrance and roof. Inside, three glass-lined labs are linked by “intelligent interconnecting corridors that stability stringent safety with transparency, placing science on show”.