James Stirling: A Liverpool Education Exhibition News
11 November 2026
New RIBA exhibition celebrates the life and career of James Stirling
James Stirling working at his desk:
photo : John Donat | RIBA Collections
As the RIBA Stirling Prize celebrates its 30th anniversary, James Stirling: A Liverpool Education, the new exhibition at RIBA North + Tate Liverpool, uncovers how the city of Liverpool shaped the life and work of James Stirling. One of Britain’s most celebrated architects, his legacy is honoured through the UK’s most prestigious award in architecture.
Neue Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart: the sculpture terrace showing round windows to internal ramp by James Stirling and Partner:
photo © Alastair Hunter / RIBA Collections
This exhibition explores the life and career of James Stirling through the lens of his connections with the City of Liverpool. Although born in Glasgow, he was raised in Liverpool from a young age, Stirling was fascinated by the form and scale of its industrial past, influences that would continue to shape his architectural work throughout his career. As a student at the Liverpool School of Architecture in the late 1940s, Stirling was exposed to a more radical attitude to design and became part of a cohort of ambitious young architects looking to rebuild Britain to according to Modernist principles.
Axonometric of Florey Building, Queen’s College, University of Oxford, 1970-75, by James Stirling:
photo © James Stirling / Michael Wilford fonds © Centre for Canadian Architecture
Featuring material from the RIBA Collections and the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the exhibition traces Stirling’s journey from an ambitious student to a world-class architect. Early drawings are supported by photographs, including a selection from Stirling’s own personal archive of scenes of Liverpool, to explore the ideas and influences that shaped his work.
Axonometric of Nordrhein-Westfalen Museum, Düsseldorf, Germany, 1975, By James Stirling and Partner:
photo : James Stirling / Michael Wilford fonds © Canadian Centre for Architecture
The exhibition also highlights the collaborative nature of architectural practice. While Stirling became one of the most recognisable names in architecture, many of the projects featured were developed alongside partners, associates and studio teams, from his early partnership with James Gowan to the later work of Stirling Wilford & Associates.
Exterior view of laboratory tower, Leicester University Engineering Building, Leicester, England, 1963-1964, by James Stirling and James Gowan:
photo : James Stirling / Michael Wilford fonds © Canadian Centre for Architecture
Oliver Urquhart-Irvine, Executive Director, Architecture Programmes & Collections, at RIBA, said:
“As we mark 30 years of the Stirling Prize, there could be no more fitting tribute than an exhibition celebrating James Stirling’s remarkable legacy and the wonderful city of Liverpool that helped shape his life and work.
Despite his ground-breaking contributions to architecture, his work was often somewhat overlooked, with some describing him as “a prophet without honour in his own country”. Through this exhibition we are proud to honour his incomparable career, recognise his lasting influence, and reaffirm Liverpool’s place at the heart of his story.”
James Stirling: A Liverpool Education will be at Gallery One, RIBA North + Tate Liverpool, from Friday 27 November 2026 to Sunday 25 April 2027.
Axonometric of the façade of Tate Clore Gallery, London, England, 1980, by James Stirling, Michael Wilford & Associates:
photo : James Stirling / Michael Wilford fonds © Canadian Centre for Architecture
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Since October 2023, Tate Liverpool + RIBA North have formed a partnership on Liverpool’s historic waterfront to deliver a programme of temporary exhibitions, family activity, public talks and other events inspired by the unique collections held by RIBA and Tate. This coincides with the temporary closure period of Tate Liverpool’s building for its redevelopment, which is due to be reopen in 2027.
Location: Mann Island, Northwest England, UK
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Previously on e-architect:
16 November 2025
Hill Station Display at RIBA North
Discover an installation that explores the colonial ties between Liverpool and Freetown in Sierra Leone
photos © Daniel Lomholt-Welch, one of the contributors
27 July 2019
Grimshaw Architects to speak at inaugural RIBA + VitrA Talk at RIBA North
Thursday 1st August
RIBA North Talk
21 Oct 2017
RIBA North Exhibitions News
A prototype of an innovative ceiling installation utilising 200 ceramic cones that are digitally designed and created by ECAlab will be on display at Cerámica
Dr Rosa Urbano Gutiérrez, founder of ECAlab, with a student in the lighting lab
Cerámica at RIBA North
Location: Mann Island, Liverpool Waterfront, Liverpool L3 1BP, England, UK.
Liverpool Architecture Designs
Liverpool Architecture Designs – chronological list
Merseyside Architectural Developments in north west England, UK:
Merseyside Architecture Designs – recent architectural selection from e-architect below:
1848 Stanley Dock Pumphouse Restaurant
image courtesy of Harcourt Developments
The Royal Liver Building
image courtesy of architects
The Royal Liver Building
Comments / photos for the James Stirling: A Liverpool Education exhibition, Mann Island, Liverpool News page welcome.
Website: RIBA North
