Irish architects lose out in RIBA Stirling Prize

The Everyman Theatre in Liverpool by Haworth Tompkins has won the RIBA Stirling Prize coming ahead of Ireland's O'Donnell and Tuomey Architects who were on the six-strong shortlist for the fifth time.

An RIBA insider said that O’Donnell and Tuomey’s London School of Economics Saw Swee Student Centre had proved popular among architects when it was on the shortlist and seemed to have a high chance of winning.

Sheila O’Donnell and John Tuomey, who set up their practice in the 1980s, recently won a globally recognised lifetime achievement award; the RIBA Royal Gold Medal.

Both O’Donnell and Tuomey have judged the Stirling Prize and, said Sheila in an interview last month: “It’s a totally different group that judges Stirling each year so you feel as though anything could happen.”

The winning practice this year has also been on the Stirling Prize shortlist before. Competition was fierce this year with a shortlist also including the Shard by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Olympic Aquatics Centre by Zaha Hadid Architects, Library of Birmingham by Mecanoo and Manchester School of Art by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studio.