Six projects make 2025 Stirling Prize shortlist for UK’s best new building

The Royal Institute of British Architects has unveiled the shortlist for the 2025 Stirling Prize. The annual prize, arguably the most acclaimed in the UK, is intended “to find the UK’s best building.”

The shortlist, chosen from winners of the RIBA National Awards reported by Archinect in July, was judged against a range of criteria including design vision, innovation and originality, accessibility and sustainability, how fit the building is for its purpose, the level of client satisfaction, and the building’s “capacity to stimulate, engage, and delight occupants and visitors.”

The winning project will be revealed on October 16th. In the meantime, the six shortlisted projects are outlined below. You can compare the most recent selection with that of previous years by reviewing our ongoing coverage of the award here.

Appleby Blue Almshouse by Witherford Watson Mann Architects

Jury citation: The architects were aware that one of the biggest challenges of growing older is increased isolation. The design attempts to remedy this by creating spaces that encourage chance meetings, places to chat with friends or sit together with a glass of wine and watch the world go by. The bulk, massing and materiality of the building offer a contemporary but appropriate response to the context.

Elizabeth Tower by Purcell

Jury citation: Like many conservation projects, appreciating the achievement requires some investigation. The shape of the tower, the clock faces and the sounds of the bells are mostly appreciated from a distance, as a dominant presence within one of the world’s most recognisable skylines. The jury’s inspection was carried out from within, after entering through a very modest door to one side of the main thoroughfare of MPs and parliamentary staff going about their business.

Hastings House by Hugh Strange Architects

Jury citation: The detached house is barely altered and beautifully refurbished, retaining fine mouldings, stained glass, fretted barge boards and decorative hung clay tiles. At ground-floor level, however, the openings in its rear wall – which previously accessed a gloomy full-width lean-to extension – are adjusted, with no loss of solidity, to form a threshold into a new world of cellular spaces that ascend the rear terraced garden. Wide timber-framed sliding glass doors, which enclose the new rooms, open onto a repaired but still rough concrete yard that has the promise of becoming the most important room in the house.

London College of Fashion by Allies and Morrison

Jury citation: Limited in site area, the 40,000 square metres of accommodation could only be provided by building tall on the square plot. To deal with a complex brief and realise a building which would be stimulating but not overwhelming, this required a rational plan, which succeeds in creating a very legible organisation. The sophisticated cross section is just as instructive in achieving this – clearly zoning the accommodation into a three-storey publicly accessible base, a middle zone the architects describe as ‘typical’ and a ‘communal’ top.

Niwa House by Takero Shimazaki Architects

Jury citation: Carefully designed and located courtyards puncture the lower level and flood the bedrooms and circulation areas with natural light, creating lovely vignettes of gardens and sky. The quality of light throughout the home is breathtaking. Large full-height sliding doors and full-height glazed walls seamlessly blend indoors and out – opening spaces to gardens, courtyards and balconies. It is difficult to see where the building ends and the gardens begin.

The Discovery Centre (DISC) by Herzog & de Meuron / BDP

Jury citation: These laboratories have full-height interior glass walls so everyone can see what is going on – and yet are also highly secure. Cleverly inserted interconnecting corridors allow scientists to move from one lab to another. Beneath the ground is a deep two-storey basement where a lot of specialised equipment undoubtedly adds to the substantial overall cost required to provide a suitably state-of-the-art scientific facility.