Niall McLaughlin Architects' Fishing Hut wins the 2015 Stephen Lawrence Prize

RIBA made a slew of winning announcements during their annual Stirling Prize party in London yesterday evening. In addition to the winning announcements for the prestigious Stirling Prize and Client of the Year, RIBA announced the Fishing Hut by London-based Niall McLaughlin Architects as the winning project for the 2015 Stephen Lawrence Prize.

In memory of Stephen Lawrence, the Marco Goldschmied Foundation established the annual prize in 1998 by to highlight emerging talent and working with small construction budgets. The prize recognizes the best UK-based projects built with a construction budget of less than £1 million.

The Stephen Lawrence Prize jury selected the Fishing Hut out of seven shortlisted projects.

Have a look at the project below.

"The primitive hut has a long anthropological pedigree as well as an architectural one. This is a sophisticated primitive hut, worthy of Murcutt or Leplastrier but set not on the edge of the Bush but on a Hampshire lake, close by chalk-filtered streams providing watercress beds and fishing."

"The timber-framed and clad construction on galvanised supports hovers over the lake, intended as a retreat for fishermen and a place for the owner’s family to unwind.  But it as much about time passing as it is about fishing: crafted slatted timber panels which allow the building to ‘hunker-down’ in the winter, open up in the spring to become delicate brises soleils. Timber framed glass screens slide away. Within a few moments in time a solid building is transparent."

Commenting on the Fishing Hut, Stephen Lawrence Prize founder Marco Goldschmied said: 'The Fishing Hut is above all beautifully-crafted, but is about so much more than fishing. Floating elegantly over the lake with sophisticated slats that can be adapted with the passing of the seasons, its design transforms what would otherwise be a simple hut into a place for quiet contemplation. It is a structure in perfect harmony with its surroundings and a worthy winner of the Stephen Lawrence Prize.' 

The 2015 Stephen Lawrence Prize jury included: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon; Doreen Lawrence CBE the mother of Stephen Lawrence; Marco Goldschmied, past RIBA President and Founder of the Marco Goldschmied Foundation; and Murray Kerr, founder of Denizen Works, which won the 2014 Stephen Lawrence