Richard Rogers' Maggie's Cancer Care Centre Wins the RIBA Stirling Prize 2009

Maggie’s Centre, a cancer care sanctuary in west London by Richard Rogers’ practice Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners has won the coveted RIBA Stirling Prize 2009 in association with The Architects Journal and Crystal CG. This is the second time the practice has been awarded the RIBA Stirling Prize (Barajas Airport, Spain, 2006).

The presentation of the UK’s premier architectural award took place at a special awards ceremony last Saturday at Old Billingsgate in London, and was televised on British National TV.

According to the Stirling Prize jurors, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners’ Maggie’s Centre exceeds at every level in fulfilling the most demanding of briefs: to create a sanctuary for terminally ill cancer sufferers with client Charles Jencks, whose deep conviction of architecture’s power to shape our experience has led to a series of cancer care centers creating a fitting memorial to his wife Maggie.

This quietly confident building is truly, unquestionably a haven for those who have been diagnosed with cancer. Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners’ achievement is in having created a completely informal, home-like sanctuary to help patients learn to live with cancer.

Conceived as a two-story pavilion, the center’s positive spirit is signaled with a bold roof canopy that hovers high above the walls to sail protectively over a series of intimate internal gardens, courtyards and roof terraces. A deep orange rendered wall puts a protective arm around it, making it a place apart without denying it is a part of the city.  This antithesis of a hospital provides an open house in the city.

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners has produced a timeless work of architecture that not only distills the intentions of this brief but expresses in built form compassion, sensitivity and a deep sense of our common humanity.

RIBA President Ruth Reed announced the winner, and former RIBA President Marco Goldschmied awarded the £20,000 cash prize, which was generously donated by the Marco Goldschmied Foundation, to Richard Rogers.

Speaking at the awards ceremony last Saturday, RIBA President Ruth Reed said:

“The shortlist for this year’s RIBA Stirling Prize was of an exceptionally high standard, and I would like to congratulate each of the shortlisted entries. In the Maggie’s Centre we have a much deserved winner, and I am delighted to award Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners with architecture’s highest accolade.”

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners has won the RIBA Stirling Prize once before in 2006 for Barajas Airport in Spain. This is the second time they have been shortlisted twice in the same year, the practice was also nominated for National Assembly for Wales (2006).

Maggie’s Centre was chosen from five outstanding shortlisted entries (previously on Bustler):

• 5 Aldermanbury Square, Londonby Eric Parry Architects
• Bodegas Protos, Spain by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
• Fuglsang Kunstmuseum, Denmark by Tony Fretton Architects
• Kentish Town Health Centre,London by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
• LiverpooolOne Master Plan, Liverpool by BDP

The RIBA Stirling Prize jury was comprised of: John Tuomey, architect and chair of the panel; Stephen Bates, architect.; Thomas Heatherwick, designer; Sir John Sorrell, Chair of CABE; and Benedetta Tagliabue, architect.

This is the 14th year the RIBA Stirling Prize has been presented. Last year’s winner was Accordia by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Alison Brooks Architects, and Maccreanor Lavington. The previous winners are: Museum of Modern Literature by David Chipperfield Architects, Barajas Airport in Madrid by Richard Rogers Partnership, The Scottish Parliament, designed by EMBT / RMJM, 30 St. Mary Axe by Foster and Partners; the Laban Centre, London by Herzog & de Meuron; Gateshead Millennium Bridge by Wilkinson Eyre; Magna, Rotherham by Wilkinson Eyre; Peckham Library and Media Centre by Alsop and Störmer; the NatWest Media Centre at Lord’s Cricket Ground by Future Systems; the American Air Museum at Duxford by Foster and Partners; The Music School, Stuttgart by Michael Wilford and Partners; and the Centenary Building, University of Salford, by Hodder Associates.

The following winners of the RIBA Special Awards were also announced and presented at the ceremony last Saturday:

• Gap House in London by Pitman Tozer won the Manser Medal sponsored by the Rooflight Company for the best one-off house or housing scheme designed by an architect in the UK.
• El Ray, a private house in Kent, by Simon Conder Associates won the Stephen Lawrence Prize funded by the Marco Goldschmied Foundation, for the best example of a building with a construction budget of less than £1 million.
• CastlefordBridge in Yorkshire by McDowell and Benedetti won the RIBA CABE Public Space Award, which celebrates publicly accessible external space.
• The Midland Hotel in Morecambe won The Crown Estate Conservation Award.  The prize is awarded to the best work of conservation which demonstrates successful restoration or adaptation of an architecturally significant building.
• MinsterSchoolin Southwell, Nottinghamshire by Penoyre & Prasad won the RIBA Sorrell Foundation Schools Award, was presented to the architects of the best RIBA award-winning school - primary or secondary - with the aim of raising the standards of design in all new school building.
• The RIBA Client of the Year 2009 award, which recognizes the extraordinarily high standard of this year’s shortlist and the different skills involved in architectural patronage, was presented to all six shortlisted entries. Peter Sharpe on behalf of the Kielder Partnership, for the Kielder Observatory in Northumberland by Charles Barclay Architects; Dr Roy Macgregor on behalf of Camden & Islington Community Solutions, for the Kentish Town Health Centre in London by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris; Peter Millican on behalf of Parabola Land, for Kings Place in London by Dixon Jones; Rod Holmes on behalf of Grosvenor, for the Liverpool One Master Plan, Liverpool by BDP; Laura Lee on behalf of Maggie’s, for Maggie’s Centre, London by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners; amd Rev Nicholas Holtam for St Martin-in-the-Fields, London by Eric Parry Architects and Caroe & Partners (Conservation Architect).