A beautifully-crafted wooden fishing hut on a small new estate in Hampshire has been awarded the 2015 Stephen Lawrence Prize. The Fishing Hut by Niall McLaughlin Architects has won the coveted annual prize set up in memory of the teenager who was setting out on the road to becoming an architect when he was murdered in 1993.
Speaking about 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 judges for the 2015 Stephen Lawrence Prize were Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon, Doreen Lawrence CBE the mother of Stephen Lawrence, Marco Goldschmied, RIBA Past President and Founder of the Marco Goldschmied Foundation, which established the Stephen Lawrence Prize in 1998 and Murray Kerr, founder of Denizen Works, which won the Stephen Lawrence Prize in 2014.
The Stephen Lawrence Prize, sponsored by the Marco Goldshmied Foundation, is intended to encourage fresh architecture talent and reward the best examples of projects that have a construction budget of less than £1 million.
The winner of the Stephen Lawrence Prize was announced this evening (Thursday 15 October) at the RIBA Stirling Prize party at RIBA in central London.
The Architects’ Journal is media partner for the RIBA awards, including the RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize, and professional media partner for the RIBA Stirling Prize. The RIBA Stirling Prize is sponsored by Almacantar.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
1. For further press information please contact Callum Reilly in the RIBA Press Office callum.reilly@riba.org or 020 7307 3757
2. View and download images of The Fishing Hut here: https://riba.box.com/s/njrg6mz5x5f2am67cbaycuixomaucwb4
3. Almacantar is a property investment and development company specialising in large-scale, complex investments in Central London, with the potential to create long-term value through development, repositioning or active asset management. Since launching in 2010, Almacantar has acquired a number of prime assets with untapped potential in the heart of London, including: Centre Point, Marble Arch Tower, CAA House, 125 Shaftesbury Avenue and One and Two South Bank Place. www.almacantar.com For further information please contact: Finsbury +44 (0)20 7251 3801 Faeth Birch
4. Previous winners of the Stephen Lawrence Prize include House No 7 by Denizen Works (2014); Montpelier Community Nursery by AY Architects (2013); Kings Grove by Duggan Morris Architects (2012); St Patrick’s Primary School Library and Music Room by Coffey Architects (2011); Artist’s House by Gumuchdjian Architects (2010); El Ray by Simon Conder Associates (2009); Sackler Crossing by John Pawson (2008); and Wooda by David Sheppard Architects (2007).
5. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) champions better buildings, communities and the environment through architecture and our members. Visit www.Architecture.com and follow us on Twitter.
6. For more information on The Architects’ Journal visit www.architectsjournal.co.uk
7. The judges’ citation for The Fishing Hut follows:
The Fishing Hut, Hampshire by Niall McLaughlin Architects
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.
Posted on Thursday 15th October 2015
