Zaha Hadid Wins the RIBA Stirling Prize 2011
The presentation of the UK's premier architectural award took place at a special ceremony on October 1 at the RIBA Stirling Prize-winning (2001) Magna Science Adventure Centre in Rotherham. "The Evelyn Grace Academy" is the first school to win the "RIBA Stirling Prize", with seven schools shortlisted in previous years. It is the first time that Zaha Hadid Architects have designed a school and their first large-scale project in the UK. Previously they designed a "Maggie's Centre" in Scotland and more recently they have completed the "Riverside Museum" in Glasgow and the London "Aquatics Centre" for the 2012 Olympics.
With total area 10.745 thousand square meters, construction of "Evelyn Grace Academy" completed in 2010 with budget US$ 58 million. A highly stylized zig-zag of steel and glass, the "Evelyn Grace Academy" is squeezed onto the tightest of urban sites (1.4 hectares - the average secondary school is 8/9 hectares). The architects received a complex brief: four schools under a single academy umbrella with the need to express both independence and unity.
This is the 16th year the "RIBA Stirling Prize" has been presented. Last year's winner was" MAXXI, the National Museum of XXI Century Arts" in Rome by Zaha Hadid Architects. Zaha Hadid Architects have been shortlisted for the prize on three previous occasions, in 2005 for the "BMW Central Building", Leipzig, Germany; in 2006 for the "Phaeno Science Centre", Wolfsburg, Germany and in 2008 for "Nord Park Railway" in Innsbruck, Austria.
