2021 RIBA International Award, Winning Buildings, Best Architecture in World, Global Design Projects

RIBA International Awards 2021

Royal Institute of British Architects Prize Longlist News – winning buildings and designers

22 July 2021

RIBA International Awards 2021 Winners

RIBA announces 16 exceptional new building projects from around the world – RIBA International Awards for Excellence 2021

Winners of the RIBA International Awards for Excellence 2021. The full list of buildings is available below.

● The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) announces the winners of the RIBA International Awards for Excellence, the pre-eminent international awards for architecture

● The 16 winning projects have been selected from entries to the world’s most prestigious award for architecture, the RIBA International Prize

● Each project is subject to a rigorous judging process by a diverse panel of local ambassadors who visit each building

● The winner of the RIBA International Prize 2021 will be announced in November

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has today revealed the 16 winners of the RIBA International Awards for Excellence 2021. The Awards, which take place every two years, recognise the most significant and inspirational projects around the world.

The RIBA International awards are open to any qualified architect for spaces anywhere in the world (excluding the UK – as this is determined by the RIBA Stirling Prize). Projects need to exemplify design excellence and architectural ambition and deliver meaningful social impact.

The sixteen award-winning buildings are spread across 11 countries. Each project has been subject to a rigorous judging process with all buildings being visited in person by a local ambassador appointed by the RIBA.

This year’s projects range from significant cultural destinations such as Modern Art Museum and its Walkways in Shanghai to new city infrastructure such as the elegant Lille Langebro pedestrian and cycle bridge in the heart of Copenhagen; from a beautiful artists’ home in Sri Lanka to a new hospital building in Bogotá that connects patients with nature.

Key trends illustrated by the International Awards for Excellence winners include:

● Buildings with multiple functions to benefit local communities

Examples include a modern family home, expanded to include an outreach and gathering space for the surrounding village, supporting both domestic and community use (Renovation of the Captain’s House, Fujian Province, China) and a village community centre situated between the new and old village to encourage local interaction and provide space for public activities (Dongziguan Villagers’ Activity Center, Hangzhou, China).

● Buildings which find solutions to pre-existing environmental issues

Examples include a community hospital in Bengal which features a series of courtyards to bring in light and cross ventilation with a ‘canal’ feature traversing the site to collect usable rainwater and help micro-climatic cooling (Friendship Hospital, Satkhira, Bangladesh) and an art gallery raised more than a metre above ground level to allow for rising sea levels (The Polygon Gallery, North Vancouver, Canada).

● Buildings that are sensitive to historical context

Examples include America’s first memorial to the victims of racial terror lynchings (The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Alabama, USA), designed to honour, document and transform conversations around racial justice in the country and a new entrance building and visitor centre for the Unesco World Heritage Site of Museum Island in Berlin which engages honestly and directly with sensitive architectural and political territory (James-Simon-Galerie, Berlin, Germany).

RIBA President Alan Jones said:
“The 2021 RIBA International Awards for Excellence are presented to an ambitious and diverse range of projects from a wide range of established and upcoming architects’ practices. It is particularly important to be considering excellence in architecture at this time – in this fast-changing world, where governments, clients and society need the skills and insight of architects.

Our global awards show how well-considered, well-delivered and well-performing architecture has the immense potential to improve lives and communities. We are very pleased to be able to celebrate some of the most innovative, ingenious and impactful architecture in the world – designed by some of the most talented architects of our time.”

Amongst the 16 winning projects announced today, four projects will be shortlisted for this year’s prize and announced in September. The winner of the RIBA International Emerging Architect Prize and the RIBA International Prize 2021 will be selected by a Grand Jury, chaired by French architect Odile Decq and revealed in November 2021.

The inaugural RIBA International Prize in 2016 was awarded to Grafton Architects for their university building, UTEC (Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología) in Lima, Peru. In 2018, the prize was awarded to Aleph Zero and Rosenbaum, for their inspiring new school complex on the edge of the Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil, Children Village.

RIBA International Awards for Excellence 2021

Format:

Project Name
Country
City/town
Practice Name / Additional Practice Name(s)

Alila Yangshuo

photograph : Shengliang Su
China
Guangxi
Vector Architects

Amorepacific Headquarters

photograph : Andreas Gehrke Noshe
South Korea
Seoul
David Chipperfield Architects Berlin with HAEAHN Architecture and KESSON

Artists’ Retreat at Pittugala

photograph : Sebastian Posingis
Sri Lanka
Athurugiriya
Palinda Kannangara Architects

Dongziguan Villagers’ Activity Center

photograph : Yi Fan
China
Hangzhou
gad · line+ studio

Friendship Hospital, Satkhira

photograph : Asif Salman Courtesy of URBANA
Bangladesh
Shyamnagar
Kashef Chowdhury/URBANA

James-Simon-Galerie

photograph : Simon Menges
Germany
Berlin
David Chipperfield Architects Berlin

Kohan Ceram Central Office Building

photo : Deed Studio
Iran
Tehran
Hooba Design Group

Lianzhou Museum of Photography

photo : Chao Zhang
China
Lianzhou
O-office Architects/Jianxiang He & Ying Jiang

Lille Langebro

photo :
Denmark
Copenhagen
WilkinsonEyre Urban Agency

Modern Art Museum and its Walkways

photo : Fangfang Tian
China
Shanghai
Atelier Deshaus

Msheireb Downtown Doha Masterplan

photo : Gerry O’Leary
Qatar
Doha
Allies and Morrison with Arup and AECOM

The Polygon Gallery

photo : James Dow
Canada
North Vancouver
Patkau Architects

Renovation of the Captain’s House

photo : Hao Chen
China
Fuzhou
Vector Architects

Expansion of the University Hospital of the Santa Fe de Bogotá Foundation

photo : Alejandro Arango
Colombia
Bogotá
El Equipo Mazzanti / GiancarloMazzanti

Tai Kwun – The Centre for Heritage and Arts

photo : Edmon Leong
China
Hong Kong
Purcell (Conservation Architect), Herzog & de Meuron (Architect and Masterplaner), Rocco Design Architects
Associates Limited (Executive Architect)

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice

image © MASS Design Group
United States of America
Montgomery, Alabama
MASS Design Group

Local Ambassadors for the International Awards for Excellence winners:

a. Martin Anzellini, AGRA_Anzellini Garcia-Reyes Architects (Colombia)
b. Joshua Bolchover, Rural Urban Framework/ The University of Hong Kong (China)
c. Niklaus Graber, Graber&Steiger Architects, (Switzerland) / Architectourbgd (Bangladesh)
d. Chul Hee Kang, Korean Institute of Architects KIA (South Korea)
e. Jan Kleihues, Kleihues + Kleihues (Germany)
f. Dorte Mandrup, Dorte Mandrup A/S (Denmark)
g. Dong Mei, BCKJ Architects (China)
h. Amila de Mel, ADM Architects (Sri Lanka)
i. Arash Nasirimoslem, FEASTUDIO (Iran)
j. Jasbir Singh Bhamra, Arcadis (Qatar)
k. Kim Smith, Helliwell + Smith / Blue Sky Architecture (Canada)
l. Xavier Vendrell, Rural Studio, Auburn University/ Xavier Vendrell Studio (USA)
m. Lu Wenyu, Amateur Architecture Studio & RIBA International Fellow (China)
n. Ma Yansong, MAD Architects & RIBA International Fellow (China)
o. Rong Zhou, Tsinghua University (China)

Previously on e-architect: