2017 Live RIBA Stirling Prize

cash officer with his own car

in a robbery gone wrong.

Welcome to the Roundhouse in north

London, the RIBA Stirling Prize, the

hunt for best new Britain in

Britain. Fixing mega best new

building in Britain. We have an

attempt to give further education

new status and can you reinvent the

British pier? That's like other

nominees for the prize. -- let's

look at the nominees.

Whoa, look at that!

City of dreams!

It's like walking to

the gates of heaven.

It looks seriously so dope.

It looks so cool.

It has got lights, like,

not just regular lights.

Purple lights.

And it's a tremendous

fun, it's like a haven

of quietness and freedom.

And madness.

It's just brilliant,

for me, it's excellent.

Wow.

I think what's unique about this

building is it's a strikingly

modern building and a very

sensitive conservation environment.

I love this building because it

reflects so many elements

of the historic dockyard.

It gets you in here,

and you just think, why?

What are your thoughts

looking out on this now?

Oh, I love it, it's

just so peaceful.

A very brief glimpse into the six

nominated buildings before the

announcement and the next ten

minutes or so, let's have a longer

look at those six building. I'm

joined by Ollie Wainwright,

architectural critic, and Emma

Froud, a community architectural

correspondent?

I make sure that communities are

involved in architectural projects.

But look at the first one. Over DC,

you were involved in this from the

beginning, Hastings Pier?

It was a

project where I worked with the

community to look at the questions

they asked about architecture, to

make sure they got the architect

that would work well done.

And what

they have created is is what they

expected? It's extraordinary what

they created.

This is architecture

that is doing what architecture is

most to do, which is supporting

community life.

Ollie, what do you

make of it?

My favourite is that it

has locally been nicknamed the

Plank. But may sound a criticism but

is a massive plank, it's a flexible

blank canvas.

Some people got

concerned they lost the end of the

pier attraction?

Its teeming with

attractions, it has public shows,

attractions, ourselves, it had has

been embraced by big amenity.

When I

went out there, you feel like you

are out at the. -- out at sea. You

really inhale the experience.

You

have the community activity in the

middle but then a sublime experience

at the far end grip is it the future

of Tambe Mike Woods?

-- is it the future appears?

It is a

glimpse into the future.

You like

this one, the Glasgow?

This is

taking something that is rarely

celebrated in this way and giving it

civic pride in the centre of

Glasgow. Considering its own

privately financed initiative, it

has all the things about a city

squeeze into one building.

It has a

sense of dignity doesn't it?

It has

a real civic presence but as a

humility to the architecture because

they have mapped this complex brief

of making sure every skill can be

accommodated.

You are suddenly met

inside by 20 stewards and

stewardesses marching in uniform

pass the test, past the dock

workers?

It's a high Street, you can

go to the restaurant and B has on

why people are training. It's a

miniature world.

You think, how

brilliant to be a student there.

Completely different, come on of the

oceans, Tatham, but more modest, --

Command of the Oceans, Tatham. More

modest but Mavi Heritage?

It's

rambling sheds. It takes visitors on

a atmospheric journey below the

floorboards where you discover the

Septembers therefore so many years.

It's a difficult task because the

old building they had to respond to

is made from this ancient ship

timbers themselves. You have to

respond in a humble way.

A bit of

concrete looks like timber as well.

I remember they really had to fit in

carefully into this. The same with

the British Museum, one of the great

landmarks of London.

Yeah. But this

building is quite magical, and it

looks better in the flesh than a

dozen photos.

It's an iceberg of a

building, you only see the tip. The

wooden brick outside, what do you of

those?

Not ground-breaking but

interesting piece of cross laminated

timber, a cheaper way to build.

Maybe it will catch on, it's a good

model.

They also have this cheeky

relationship with the homes, in a

mixed up street.

Intentionally

cartoonish quality, next to a

primary school, so it looks like a

child's drawing of it how. It's a

good addition to the street.

And we

will now, I think, move very quickly

across to Louise Minchin who is

announcing, and Ben Derbyshire, the

president of the Royal Institute of

British architects, the announcement

of this year's RIBA Stirling Prize.

We've just got a couple of seconds

and you can do the honours.

Thank

you very much. Good evening, ladies

and gentlemen. The Royal Institute

of British architects is a global,

professional membership body. A

charity supporting architect and

society to deliver better buildings

and places, stronger communities and

a sustainable environment. On this

very special occasion, we are

celebrating the winner of the most

coveted award in architecture. A

prize that illustrates why UK

architecture is the envy of the

world. The RIBA Stirling Prize

showcases the remarkable skills for

tenacity and problem-solving player

of our talented architectural

practices. It also rewards the

patrons of great architecture.

Clients that have taken the

initiative and sometimes a risk, to

create innovative extraordinary

environments that delight and

inspire. The built environment plays

a crucial role in how people

understand and value of the world

around them. The quality of the

places in which we live, work and

play, is a reflection of our

country's ambition and success. We

must insist upon and nurture

exceptional design, we know that it

is worth every penny of investment

and more. As chair of the jury, I

congratulate every single one of

this year's finalist. Truly

remarkable buildings designed and

built perfectly for the people that

they serve. And here comes the

moment, I'm absolutely delighted to

announce that the winner of the 2017

RIBA Stirling Prize for architecture

is, and you will have to wait while

I fell it in my other pocket...

Hastings pier.

Congratulations. Please come and

join us on stage.

We can keep going, we can keep

cheering, come on!

Congratulations.

CHEERING

I didn't peer into the future but I

did make, just in case, a couple of

nights. First of all, because we are

on live linkup with Hastings Pier,

hello Hastings! Yes! We've got the

Hastings Pier party going on. It was

called Win or lose. So this is

double suite. I first of all want to

acknowledge all the contenders in

this Stirling Prize award which is

always hotly contested, and I think

you will agree we have seen some

incredible quality. So fair play.

And I would like to acknowledge that

you've all done fine buildings but

it seems that this year, what really

captured the imagination was not

doing one. In favour of making

space. In favour of making public

space. When you invent, you need to

collaborate, and this project really

did define collaboration. So I have

to acknowledge that this, and you

can see from the stage here, of the

members who worked on the scheme,

and incredible design team PT

projects. We had a dedicated design

team which works closely and very

broadly with the client. You cannot

do interesting and special projects

without a special client and I would

say Hastings Pier Charity are up

there among the most special, even

eccentric clients you will ever

meet. But I also want to acknowledge

the people that delivered it were

absolutely fantastic. In the end,

the double-macro charity, formally

trust, became the project managers

to build it using local contractors,

and that was a really special

process. It was actually realised

and delivered. So fair play to all

the delivery team, the contractors

and ultimately, the agility of the

funding came from Heritage lottery

fund for which we are also extremely

grateful. -- the majority of the

funding. Finally, I just say thanks

to the RIBA for this amazing award,

and I guess, it is nice to be

recognised by your peers.

Thank you

very much.

The winner of this year's

RIBA Stirling Prize. Hastings Pier,

an extraordinary adventure in

reinventing something that many

people in the town had thought had

gone forever. The building, a huge,

empty space, effectively, with a

pavilion on top. Many calling it the

plank. As you were there from day

one with the residence, it must be

quite a good feeling?

Yes, I have

not seen the residents sense but I'm

so delighted, they found a good one.

They got a good architect.

Do you

think this is a worthy winner.

I do,

it is difficult to convey the power

through the photographs, you have to

stand on the end of this pier

leaning PCBs, taking in the view,

feeling the expense of the sea. As

you say, it is a public space. It is

not a photogenic or immaculate work

of architecture in that space, it is

a basic piece of public space that

serve its function.

Do you think

that people going on there bucket

and spade holidays will take do this

when they do not get the end of the

Pier amusement, the penny slots and

whatever, it is a bit of an

adventure in architecture? Have the

architects led the public was not a

yes, but to witness the public using

it today, Alex said he didn't do a

building but the building in the

middle is extraordinary.

It's got a

cluster of beach huts around, but

that is what good architecture does.

It supports and enhances human

rights. -- human life. Every nook

and cranny has been used.

You have

the steps going to the cafe, with

the seating, so the public really

depends in an unexpected ways that

they weren't imagining.

I know

there's a gathering of people on the

pier at the moment watching the

announcement, that doesn't happen

off with architectural awards, the

thousand people, shareholders, they

brought pier themselves, this is

more than just the architects'

story?

Yes. It's architecture,

architects being the facilitator for

the desires of a community. And it's

really wonderful to see, you see the

people, I was there at the weekend

they were running workshops, the joy

of people running things in that

building.

The power of amenity

ownership. Before, it has been owned

by a company in Panama, they did not

care when it burned down, they

compulsively purchased the structure

of the £1, give it to the charity,

then it shows the power of building

momentum of people that live there

to make this project up.

It did seem

like this first.

I think now is a

good moment for us to actually have

a look, killing

-- look at Hastings Pier and the

story of how we got here after that

terrible fire in 2010.

It gets you in here.

You just think, why?

You were here when it broke down?

You were here when it burned down?

I was.

People that I've never spoken

to before were stopping me to

talk about the pier

and everyone was devastated.

It was really quite upsetting.

The fact there had been a massive

fire and it felt like

actually, how is it going

to come back from that?

Did you think it was all over then?

I did and I know a lot

of people did, and it was

actually the opposite.

So, seven years after that

fire, Hastings Pier

has been reborn.

Jill, Dot and Gillian are

shareholders, the local community

now owns the pier.

And it's been rebuilt.

This curtain of glass,

finally give the people of

Hastings a panoramic

view out to the sea.

The woodwork here is the original

timber from the pier.

There are still some

of the scorch marks

from the fire of 2010.

But the most important

innovation is this.

Nothing.

What they chose not to build.

The empty space.

There is no end of the pier.

And there's a good reason

for all this space.

The history of Britain's piers

is a story of recurring disaster,

flimsy wooden attractions that

have a habit of

going bankrupt and burning down.

So much to listen to,

say much to see.

And everything must be

the finest in the world.

Even the potato peeler.

The old seaside

attractions have gone.

In their place, open space that can

be used for a variety of

moneymaking enterprises.

The Victorians had

this great concept of

walking over the sea, promenading.

And thanks to them, we've got this

madness in our society called piers.

Madness?

Absolutely bonkers.

Madness?

Peter Weaver is a piers engineer,

3000 tonnes of new steel

have been added to try to keep

the elements at bay.

It's a triumph of hope

over reality isn't it?

Yes and that's

the biggest challenge.

How does the pier fund

its own maintenance?

That's where piers have a problem.

So, 145 days after it was first

opened, Hastings Pier is reborn and

is now Britain's best

new building of 2017.

What are your thoughts

looking out on this now?

Oh,

I love it.

It's so peaceful.

I'm joined now by the winner of this

year's RIBA Stirling Prize, Alistair

of DRM N architects. It must be a

good feeling?

It's a fantastic

feeling. Not only have we laboured

on behalf of the people that worked

on this project.

It's not the normal

product at all?

It was initiative by

a local community group who

kick-started an effort to save a

derelict pier that then caught fire

and had to be rethought. It was a

long process, seven years of

thinking and drawing and composing,

to now come here and be recognised

as not just a immunity room project,

but an exemplar of design, it's

fantastic.

A lot of people, when

they saw the plans, thought, "Hang

on a second, I can see a pier but

not anything else, you've forgotten

to build the buildings."

The joke

was that it was the plank.

Conceptually, it was a hard one at

first, but the thought was, it had

to be so many different things for

the many people, you have do make

things that enable lots of different

things, and to build one so-called

iconic building at the end of it

would not serve all the people who

are not using about that time.

It

has also provided the town and

visitors with a proper view. You can

sit out, 365 days a year, you don't

get that then every other

double-macro?

Absolutely,s Eyebrows,

Her Domestic British Ideal.

-- Peers Are A British Ideal. It's a

space where you can be part of the

weather. Sometimes in the year, you

will be on your own, sometimes there

will be packed thousands of people

there because there are also a band

or a circus. It is about creating

possibilities.

Do you have a

question for him?

At a brave move to

have left it open and not do the

obvious thing and placing the iconic

building at the end, were you

worried it might end up being barren

and an empty space for the year? Was

that concern in the back of your

mind?

We were never worried it be

barren. Partly because the local

people are genuinely eccentric and

fun and they love life, they love

dressing up, they will always have

events and that was never a risk.

The idea of making a big public

space was so beguiling because we

don't have that much in the UK. We

don't have open public space that

isn't full of stuff. And here we

have the opportunity to demonstrate

people's imagination and the way in

which they can colonise and use the

space is very important. Children

are always good at that.

Congratulations, the winner of this

year's Tom,

RIBA Stirling Prize. This is what it

was all about. Hastings Pier,

described in the 1870s as peerless,

a masterpiece of Victorian

engineering, it's gone through fire,

storm neglect, changing fashion.

What we've seen today is an attempt

to reinvent the British pier for the

future. The winner of this year's

RIBA Stirling Prize, Hastings Pier.