RIBA Awards for International Excellence 2018 Buildings Shortlist, Global Architecture Projects

2018 RIBA Awards for International Excellence

Royal Institute of British Architects: News – Architectural Information

10 May 2018

2018 RIBA Awards for International Excellence News

RIBA reveals the 20 best new buildings in the world and announces the RIBA International Emerging Architect

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) announces the winners of the RIBA Awards for International Excellence and the 2018 RIBA International Emerging Architect

The 20 new buildings have been selected from entries to the world’s most prestigious award for architecture, the RIBA International Prize 2018

The winner of the second RIBA International Prize will be announced in November 2018

The RIBA Awards for International Excellence 2018 have been awarded to 20 exceptional new buildings in 16 countries, ranging from large urban infrastructure schemes to private homes; cultural destinations to civic spaces; educational buildings to places of worship.

Gustavo Utrabo and Pedro Duschenes, founders of Brazilian architecture firm Aleph Zero, are the recipients of the RIBA International Emerging Architect 2018. Their project, the Children Village in Formoso do Araguaia, Brazil, designed with Rosenbaum, is one of the 20 winners announced today.

The Children Village provides boarding accommodation for 540 senior school children at the Canuanã School. Run and funded by the Bradesco Foundation, it is one of forty schools providing education for disadvantaged local children and is the first of their projects to use design to improve the quality of education.

Aleph Zero operates in a range of areas, from the design of furniture, exhibitions, residential and commercial architecture, to urban-scale projects for both public and private sector clients. Constructed in prefabricated and reforested wood, Children Village is a powerful demonstration to the community of the importance of using of natural resources in a rational and sustainable way.

Speaking about the RIBA Awards for International Excellence 2018, RIBA President Ben Derbyshire said: “The RIBA Awards for International Excellence 2018 are a testament to the breadth and quality of architecture being created around the world. These 20 outstanding projects were selected for their architectural ambition, design ingenuity and excellence of execution.

Importantly, they demonstrate the significant and far-reaching contribution that architecture makes to our daily lives. These qualities are exemplified in the inspiring project Children Village by Aleph Zero, who we are delighted to announce as RIBA International Emerging Architect 2018.”

Speaking about the RIBA International Emerging Architect 2018, Julia Barfield, Chair of the RIBA Awards Group, said: “It’s always a pleasure to be able to recognise and reward emerging talent. We were impressed by the way the architects embraced the question of how architecture can stimulate its users, as well as the surrounding community, in a region rich in natural resources but poor in opportunities, education and economic resources. Aleph Zero are philosophical, reflectful and thoughtful architects who are reinterpreting the Brazilian vernacular using the abundant natural resources that surround the site in an innovative way which inherently promotes both economic and environmental sustainability.”

The 20 winning projects announced today form the longlist for the RIBA International Prize 2018; the shortlist of four buildings will be announced in September 2018 and the winner will be revealed in November 2018.

The RIBA International Prize 2018 will be awarded to the most significant and inspirational building of the year. The winning project will exemplify design excellence, architectural ambition and deliver meaningful social impact. The RIBA International Prize is open to any qualified architect in the world.

RIBA Awards for International Excellence 2018

Audain Art Museum by Patkau Architects in Whistler, BC, Canada

Cultural

A beautifully crafted art gallery conceived as a bridge supported on a series of blocks. Using the site and climate constraints to inform the design, the Audain Art Museum exploits its beautiful forest setting.

photo © James Dow
Audain Art Museum

BBVA Bancomer Tower by LegoRogers (Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Legorreta + Legorreta), UK and Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico

Corporate

A bespoke headquarters for an international bank. The BBVA Bancomer Tower demonstrates an elegant response to a complicated site, both in terms of its urbanism and its solution to the complexities of tall buildings.

photo © Dolores Robles-Martinez
BBVA Bancomer Tower

Buendner Kunstmuseum Chur by Barozzi Veiga, Spain in Chur, Switzerland

Cultural

A competition-winning scheme from 2011 to extend an art gallery housed in a Palladian 18th-century villa (the Villa Planta), the Buendner Kunstmuseum Chur is an elegant, minimal edifice in the centre of the city.

photo © Simon Menges

Captain Kelly’s Cottage by John Wardle Architects, Australia in Tasmania, Australia

Residential

A new insertion for a 19th-century residence on an exposed cliff edge on Bruny Island, Tasmania. The finished dwelling offers offers a contemporary interpretation of the original vernacular.

photo © Trevor Mein

Central European University – Phase 1 by O’Donnell + Tuomey, Ireland in Budapest, Hungary

Educational

A part-new, part-refurbished university campus connecting two of four buildings on the site. The design diagram draws upon Budapest’s vernacular and sits neatly within the city’s sensitive historical context to skilfully knit together several buildings in an internal sequence of spaces and routes

photo © Tamás Bujnovszky

Children Village by *Rosenbaum + Aleph Zero, Brazil in Formoso do Araguaia – Tocantins, Brazil

Educational

An isolated collection of buildings that serve as boarding accommodation for 540 senior school children at the Canuanã School. The charm and peace of Children Village conceals an immersive architectural process of understanding and applying vernacular techniques and materials, which has created an idyllic and home like environment for its young residents.

photo © Leonardo Finotti

Lanka Learning Center by feat.collective, Germany and India in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka

Educational

A striking pentangular assembly of buildings creating a ‘safe haven’ for learning and aligned around a generous and highly flexible courtyard. The Lanka Learning Centre is one of a series of post tsunami and post conflict low-cost facilities funded by donations, that provide opportunity, education and safety to their students.

photo © feat.collective

M4 Metro Line Budapest FŐMTERV-PALATIUMUVATERV Consortium with Budapesti Építőművészet Műhely, Gelesz és Lenzsér, Puhl és Dajka, sporaarchitects, VPI Studio, Hungary
Budapest, Hungary

Civic

A new ten station underground line using the ‘top-down’ method of construction, the M4 Metro Line in Budapest is remarkable partly for its technical achievements, partly for its participatory qualities – the architects who won the brief shared it with their runners up – but mostly for the sheer joy and diversity of the completed stations which offer delight and efficiency in equal measure.

photo © Tamás Bujnovszky

M4 Metro Line Budapest

Mount Herzl Memorial Hall by Kimmel Eshkolot Architects in collaboration with Kalush Chechick architects, Israel in Israel

Civic

A memorial situated at the entrance to Israel’s National Cemetery. The Mount Herzl Memorial Hall is comprised of a terraced hill; a correspondingly terraced sunken entrance court; and large cave-like interior centred upon an undulating light-flooded chamber, creating a calming and peaceful atmosphere.

photo © Amit Geron

Musee d’arts de Nantes by Stanton Williams, UK in Nantes, France

Cultural

An elegant and beautifully proportioned alteration and major extension for Nante’s Musee d’Arts. The gentle and restrained weaving of old and new within the 1900 Beaux Arts Palais creates a highly coherent and refined facility of real intelligence and craft.

photo © Nick Hufton

Musee d’arts de Nantes

Museum Voorlinden by Kraaijvanger Architects, Netherlands in Wassenaar, Netherlands

Cultural

A new 7,000m² museum for contemporary art, sitting within the grounds of an early twentieth century, ‘Dutch Arts & Crafts’ countryhouse. The roof/screen is the raison d’etre of the design; 115,000 aluminium pipes, all angled away from direct sun, allow an even daylight cascade into the gallery spaces below.

photo © Ronald Tilleman

Musee d’arts de Nantes

Sancaklar Mosque by EAA-Emre Arolat Architecture, Turkey in Istanbul, Turkey

Religious

A privately funded mosque built on the outskirts of Istanbul. The Sancaklar Mosque is an uplifting reimagining of a mosque, featuring an unorthodox, contemporary design, and an interior layout which reconceptualises liturgical conventions.

photo © Thomas Mayer

Sancaklar Mosque

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center by Renzo Piano Building Workshop & Betaplan, Italy and Greece in
Athens, Greece

Cultural

Gifted by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, this project combines the new National Opera House, National Library and park. The diagram of the scheme is formal and dramatic, somewhat related to the nearby Acropolis, with the park rising up over the buildings to provide a summit surmounted by a distinctive floating roof – a new landmark in Athens.

photo © Michel Denancé

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

Studio Dwelling at Rajagiriya by Palinda Kannangara Architects, Sri Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Residential

A architect’s studio and dwelling located on a quiet waterside site in Colombo. Built over four floors, the Studio Dwelling at Rajagiriya is organised on a simple grid with numerous idetails and events combining to to create an ingenious, crafted ‘box’.

photo © Mahesh Mendis

Tatsumi Apartment House by Hiroyuki Ito Architects, Japan in Tokyo, Japan

Residential

A minimal residence in Japan, the Tatsumi Apartment House is a direct resposne to the needs of a fast paced and dynamic population. There is a compelling logic to the use of a limited amount of space that resolves difficulties and creates comfort and calm.

photo © Makoto Yhoshida

The Ancient Church of Vilanova de la Barca by AleaOlea architecture & landscape, Spain in Vilanova de la Barca / Lleida, Spain

Cultural

A 13th-century parish church – partially damaged during the Spanish Civil War – that has been repaired, reconstructed and brought back to life as a much valued community facility for social and cultural use. The sensitive handling of the original building and the creation of a new shell to incorporate a flexible space demonstrates a real craft and care steeped in understanding.

photo © Adrià Goula

Toho Gakuen School of Music by NIKKEN SEKKEI, Japan in Tokyo, Japan

Educational

This virtuoso piece of architecture has an august almost village like quality with its independent teaching spaces, clever accouustic treatments and neat communal spaces. It adroitly allows for flexibility, adaptation and improvisation by its students whilst retaining an order and formality.

photo © Harunori Noda

University of Amsterdam by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, UK in Amsterdam, Netherlands

Educational

Two somewhat ordinary buildings have been stripped out, re-purposed and weaved back into the centre of Amsterdam with purpose and conviction. Spanning the canal, the University is both bold and at times restrained, creating new views and routes within and around it.

photo © Tim Soar

Vertical Forest by Boeri Studio (Stefano Boeri, Gianandrea Barreca, Giovanni La Varra), Italy in Milan, Italy

Residential

Combining biodiversity with bustling urban life and creating its own micro-climate in the process, Bosco Verticale deals with density and air quality and in doing so creates an architectural botany that is both compelling and striking.

Vertical Forest in Milan

Xiao Jing Wan University by Foster + Partners, UK in Shenzhen, China

Educational

At 55,000m² this vast campus draws heavily upon the local building material – brick – and does so ingeniously, not only in the way it has been used, but in the effect it generates. Its warmth and character combine to create an overall impression of great style and composure.