The Stirling Prize: Hit or Miss?
The Arts Society Newbury: The Stirling Prize: British Architecture’s Oscars
on Tuesday, February 18
at Arlington Arts , Snelsmore
Review by ALAN CHILDS
ARCHITECTURE, said the German polymath Johann Walter von Goethe, is frozen music. But not everybody has liked the melodies.
To try to revive the reputation of architects, the Royal Institute of British Architects created the Stirling Prize, British Architecture’s Oscars, in 1996 to make the public think about architecture more warmly, expert Brian Stater told the Arts Society Newbury.
To illustrate the kinds of work – which include houses, schools, offices, sports facilities, public buildings and railway stations – that won the award, Mr Stater presented his own Juke Box Jury selection of Hits, Misses and Should Have Been Number Ones.
Among the Hits was The Gherkin, the radical glass and steel skyscraper in London whose tapered elegance and remarkable star quality epitomised the excitement generated by contemporary architecture.
A different sort of success was the 2013 winner, Astley Castle in Warwickshire, where a new house was built inside the ruined walls of a 12th- century manor house, showing how sympathetic design could let history breath and survive with the new.
The Misses, as winners with – in retrospect – flaws, were as varied. The winner of the 2017 prize was Hastings Pier, a reimagining of the traditional as an enormous public platform. The trust that owned it went bust soon after.
The 2005 winner, the Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood, Edinburgh, Mr Stater said, looked splendid from King Arthur’s Seat but not so good from closer to it.
The Media Centre at Lord’s cricket ground, the 1999 winner, while radical in its design and construction, brought grumbles from journalists that it lacked atmosphere and they couldn’t hear the crowd or bat on ball.
Then, as always, were the ones who didn’t get a prize but should have, said Mr Stater, such as the Eden Project, the British Museum redesign and Olympic Velodrome.
Sadly, even if the music is frozen, someone still has to play second fiddle.
theartssocietynewbury.org,uk
Next lecture: Wilde about Oscar: Famous for being famous (& Infamous) 1854-1900 on March 18.
