Hastings Pier named Britain's best new building
A historic pier in East Sussex devastated by fire in 2010 has won a prestigious architecture award after a multi-million pound redevelopment.
The original pier closed in 2008 and was ravaged by fire in 2010
Hastings Pier, which reopened in April 2016, beat five other buildings to the Royal Institute of British Architects (Riba) Stirling Prize .
Originally built in 1872, the pier was a popular attraction famous for musical acts . It had been neglected in recent years, and closed to the public in 2008 following storm damage.
The pier was opened in 1872. In the 20th Century it hosted dances, concerts by The Rolling Stones, The Who, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley, and all-night raves.
The redevelopment project took more than two years at a cost of £14.2m.
Riba president Ben Derbyshire described the pier as “a masterpiece of regeneration” .
He also praised Hastings' local community for finding 3,000 shareholders to buy £100 stakes in "the people's pier”.
The rebuilt pier was designed by London-based dRMM Architects.
Accepting the prize, co-founder Alex de Rijke praised the other nominees , saying: "You've all done fine buildings, but it seems that this year what really captured the imaginations was not doing one - in favour of making public space.”
The first finalist is the new City Campus at the City of Glasgow College, which is part of a project to turn the college's 11 buildings into two. The judges said: "There is an astonishing scale and complexity to the brief for this project and considerable architectural skill is demonstrated in its realisation; not just in resolving the brief, but in the contribution to the city."
Hastings Pier was reopened to the public in April 2016, five-and-a-half years after a devastating fire which caused widespread damage. The judges said: "The new pier is not a lonely pier; rather, it is extremely welcoming in its design, with free, open entry to the public. It offers flexibility, material and functional sustainability, and an uninterrupted vista of the natural and built surroundings."
The Photography Studio for Juergen Teller in west London consists of three buildings and gardens. The judges said: "The project is a mature and confident statement of orderliness and precision, whilst also being relaxed and playful. It forms a refined, yet flexible workplace, which is already beginning to act as a setting to prompt and influence on the work of its client."
The British Museum World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre was built with money from a legacy to enhance the way the museum's collections are stored. The judges said: "This building is the realisation of an extremely complicated brief in terms of spatial challenges, technical requirements, and engineering technologies. Its achievement derives from the elegant and simple way these challenges are met, while maintaining a clear and coherent diagram and a refined and rational building enclosure."
The Command of the Oceans display at The Historic Dockyard Chatham opened to the public last year. The judges said: “This project is a champion for progressive conservation, inventive reuse and adaptation of existing fabric. The importance of the historic fabric has been clearly understood, which has allowed freedom in other areas to change the circulation and the reading of the buildings to give the whole complex of buildings a new lease of life."
Barrett's Grove is a cross-laminated timber housing scheme in London's Stoke Newington, which is set in a conservation area. The judges said: "The staggered hit-and-miss brick skin of the façade makes a larger-than-usual pattern, which fits the tallness of the overall building. Wrapping the skin up and over the roof, emphasises the simplicity of the building’s form."