Niall McLaughlin Architects are among six practices to have been shortlisted as Public Building Architect of the Year. Other practices on the shortlist are Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, Duggan Morris Architects, erect architecture, Pringle Richards Sharratt Archtiects and Wilkinson Eyre Architects.
Niall McLaughlin has written an article for the Architectural Review, entitled ‘Street Life: Michael Maltzan’s Social Housing in Los Angeles’. The piece examines the history of the infamous area of LA known as Skid Row and three housing projects by the practice Michael Maltzan Architecture for this fractured part of the city. The piece draws out common themes between the projects, which are all low-cost accommodation for the previously homeless, exploring the successful spatial relationships between the private space of the individual rooms, the areas of common sheltered space and the public realm of the street.
“The formal virtuosity of each composition is Maltzan’s own special skill and they suggest that high architecture can give pleasure and dignity to all of us….I hope that the different spatial experiments, linking and articulating pavement, common sheltered space and private rooms, will become subjects for further reflection and analysis. It speaks of our common need to situate ourselves and participate in public life.” NM
Niall McLaughlin Architects are delighted that the Bishop Edward King Chapel has been shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize for the best building, considered to be the most prestigious award for architectural excellence. The RIBA describe the shortlisted buildings as revealing, “the pinnacle of current architectural talent.”
The Chapel is one of the six on the shortlist which includes projects by Alison Brooks Architects, Hawkins\Brown, Witherford Watson Mann Architects, Heneghan Peng and Grafton Architects. The announcement has received widespread media coverage in shortlist that has been reported as “refreshing for its wave of new names.”
This year’s judging panel are Sheila O’Donnell (O’Donnell and Tuomey Architects), Paul Williams (Stanton Williams), Stephen Hodder (RIBA President Elect), Dame Vivien Duffield (philanthropist) and Tom Dykchoff (journalist). A short video of Niall McLaughlin talking with the judges about the Chapel building is featured below.