The RIBA Stirling Prize 2026 winner announcement today (15 October) marks not just a much-anticipated annual moment in the global architecture world, but also the 30th anniversary of the respected accolade – which this year goes to the housing scheme Lion Green Road in Croydon, south London, the brainchild of architect Mary Duggan.
The shortlist of six projects provided grounds for some fierce competition and debate – schemes spanned typologies and scales, and included a luxuriously restrained family home, a large-scale building over a key London transport hub, and an eco-friendly community space.
The RIBA Stirling Prize 2026 winner: Lion Green Road by Mary Duggan Architects (design) with RUFF Architects (delivery)
Lion Green Road comprises 157 dwellings – both private and affordable. They are arranged into five prismatic 13-sided blocks set on the green hillside in Coulsdon, Croydon, on the southern edge of London.
The jury citation explains the project's particular challenges: 'The site fronts onto Lion Green Road, with low-rise green‑belt housing set on higher ground to the south and traditional suburban streets to the north. Its dramatic 8m level changes and position within a geological basin demanded an inventive design response from the architects. Additional constraints included the need to maintain access to the housing and open land to the rear, and the requirement to protect a neighbouring scheduled monument associated with the historic Surrey Iron Railway.'
Part of the project's appeal is its carefully calculated yet gentle approach – both in terms of its sculptural volumes and the way they relate to their surroundings. The textured material and its immaculate composition – brick, placed to form various patterns – also support this sensitive response to the brief and context.
Discover the RIBA Stirling Prize 2026 winner
The project puts the pristine, green landscape around it first, weaving the architecture between trees and other planting, using its tactile, detailed brick fabric to craft volumes in subtle dialogue with their surroundings, instead of dominating them.
The jury citation highlights this approach too: 'Balconies are oriented to avoid direct overlooking, allowing the pavilions to be placed closer together while still maintaining long views from the private spaces. A richly planted, biodiverse landscape weaves the site together and plays a central role in the project’s identity. The landscape strategy accommodates significant level changes while creating a variety of shared spaces, from children’s play areas to seating zones and dedicated growing spaces. Public pathways thread through the planting, inviting community use and enhancing permeability.'
It was this combination of inventive yet relatively quiet design, a site-specific attitude, and a landscape-first approach that allowed the pavilion arrangement to be woven into the natural context that made the project stand out to the jury – which was composed this year of Chris Williamson (RIBA president), 6a architects director Stephanie Macdonald, RSHP senior director Tracy Meller, head of net zero policy at CIBSE Dr Julie Godefroy, Sir John Soane’s Museum director Will Gompertz, and VP Product & Experience at Autodesk Catherine Winfield.
'[It] delivers meaningful public benefit while offering high‑quality amenity for residents and supporting a strong sense of community,' they wrote.
The RIBA Stirling Prize 2026 shortlist
RIBA President Chris Williamson said, when the shortlist was revealed during the summer: 'This year's shortlist shows us what architecture can achieve when creativity, purpose and public value come together. In their distinct ambitions to revitalise communities, transform public infrastructure, deliver exemplary housing, carefully evolve historic institutions and create a thoughtful new home, these projects show that UK architecture is not only defined by style, but by true impact on people and place.'
'As the Stirling Prize marks its 30th year, this exceptional shortlist joins a distinguished legacy of projects that represent the very best of British architecture – where ambition, ingenuity and social responsibility combine to create places of lasting value.'
Here are the other buildings that formed the shortlist.
A house at Fairmead, High Beach, Epping Forest by Sergison Bates
Located at the edge of Epping Forest in the outskirts of London, this home responds to its rural, leafy setting with a material and formal restraint, allowing the nature around it to take centre stage. It is not just about looks either, as sustainable architecture techniques involved in the construction include the use of insulating clay blocks finished with lime plaster, which ensure better heat management within.
A dramatic 4.5m-high living room not only becomes the heart of the home, but is also a moment of joyful openness, in a play of compression and expansion, private and public, within the home's design.
Beam, Hertfordshire, by Bennetts Associates
This striking multi-arts venue set on the banks of the River Lea is a forward-thinking transformation of the existing, ageing 1970s Hertford Theatre into a 21st-century venue. The building has been updated by wrapping the original building in a new brick form.
This houses a cinema and events space. The council-led scheme highlights reuse and retrofitting, while creating a highly functional civic and community hub that responds to today's needs.
Paddington Square by Renzo Piano Building Workshop (Paris) in collaboration with Adamson Associates (London)
Paddington Square features a transparent, cube-shaped, mixed-use building, containing office, food and beverage offerings, retail and a public square, as well as a new Bakerloo Line entrance and ticket hall. The project includes an expert level of architectural mastery in order to craft not 'just the looks, but also the permeability and accessibility of the public realm on the site', said architect Joost Moolhuijzen of RPBW at the time of its completion.
The architects moved an existing street to reveal direct access to the station, effectively creating a more visible, new gateway towards the platforms for the public. A hard-working public plaza at its foot offers entrances to the train hub, the underground, the retail and the offices above, as well as open green space.
Pembroke, Mill Lane by Haworth Tompkins
The project encompasses a significant expansion within Cambridge's Historic Core Conservation Area – a reimagining of Pembroke College that artfully blends old and new. Six refreshed existing buildings meet six new structures in a broader site that balances history and modern use, public openness and functionality.
The project has also employed key sustainable architecture strategies, including important passive design measures. Solutions span triple glazing, exposed thermal mass and photovoltaic panels.
River Wing, Clare College by Witherford Watson Mann Architects
A tricky site, the the Grade I-listed Clare College in Cambridge, was brought into the 21st century as a series of underused, unfit-for-purpose spaces were redesigned for modern standards. The project's existing, historic brick walls are complemented by a palette of oak, for the structure and wall panelling, and Purbeck stone floors.
The result is both sensitive to its existing condition and immaculately detailed. The college's new wing brings together past and present in a seemingly effortless but in reality highly calibrated and intensely planned contemporary expansion.
RIBA International Prize 2026
More awards were revealed on the same evening, beyond the Stirling. The RIBA International Prize 2026 shortlist included just four buildings – and from those, the Green Field Factory in Bangladesh was announced the year's best. The diverse projects, spanning from Europe to Asia, each offer an exciting architectural proposition. Their common ground? 'Design [that] improves daily life while responding to a changing climate,' RIBA's representatives explain.
Winner: Green Field Factory of Karupannya Rangpur Limited by Nakshabid Architects, Rangpur, Bangladesh
What if a textile factory were treated not as industrial ground, but first and foremost as workplace, wellbeing hub and space for community? The result might look something like the Green Field Factory, a deceptively large, seven-storey building that takes its cues from its country's vernacular and rural Bengali homesteads.
RIBA International Emerging Architect Award 2026
This RIBA award celebrates young talent and emerging practice across the world – this year, highlighting Maker Architecten for a residential project in Belgium that 'revitalises a 1920s garden-city neighbourhood without wholesale demolition'.
Winner: Maker Architecten
The studio was founded in 2019 in Ghent, led by architects Ana Castillo and Lieven De Groote. The design that made them stand out in this case is titled ‘YIMBY’ (Yes in my BackYard) and is set in the country's city of Kortrijk. Making the most of elements of reuse and smart adaptability, the architects breathed new life into an existing site.
They said: 'We are honoured that Maker has been recognised with the RIBA International Emerging Architect 2026 award. The project YIMBY explores how small-scale interventions can contribute to a larger transformation of the city. At a time when affordable housing, resource scarcity and social fragmentation are pressing challenges across Europe, we believe the existing city is one of our most valuable resources. Its buildings, materials and social networks all hold potential for the future. YIMBY is an attempt to work with that potential, creating new value without erasing the stories embedded in the place.'