This weekend, the Royal Institute of British Architects awarded Zaha Hadid this year's Stirling Prize for the Evelyn Grace Academy, a swank new high school in south London that was described by RIBA President Angela Brady as "an exceptional example of what can be achieved when we invest carefully in a well-designed new school building.” While outlets such as the Financial Times offer kind words about Hadid's project—"[t]he new school is powerful, elegant and sculptural and its slanting, complex interlocking forms express a new start for the old schools"—some architects, scholars, and critics who attended Saturday night's ceremony did not. In fact, many took issue that it was Hadid who won and not London-based Hopkins Architects for their 2012 London Velodrome. We sifted through an Architect's Journal report and various other reviews; here now, the top 10 jabs about Hadid's triumph:
10: "‘There was a collective groan at the announcement of the Zaha school as winner." —Flora Samuels, University of Sheffield School of Architecture [link]
9: "“It’s a nasty irony and I think it sends a message of crass stupidity and total insensitivity.” —Jonathan Ellis Miller, Ellis Miller [link]
8: "Interesting also that despite female architects, it remains notably masculine architecture which prevails. Is that really what we want the architecture of today to be? Where are the maternal counterpoints to a paternal architectural dialogue?" —Flora Samuels, University of Sheffield School of Architecture [link]
7: "My first choice would have been the Velodrome, just in design terms. That was head and shoulders above everything else." —Julie Barfield, Marks Barfield [link]
6: "This is an appalling result and the worst decision since the Magna Centre beat Girmshaw’s Eden Project to win the Stirling Prize in 2001." —George Ferguson, former president of the Royal Institute of British Architects [link]
5: "There is a political agenda in the judges nominating a school." —Russell Brown, Hawkins Brown [link]
4: "When the Stirling winner was announced there was a palpable sense of shock across the room." —Rab Bennetts, Bennetts Associates [link]
3: "This year the Stirling Prize did not go to the best building." —former Stirling Prize winner Stephen Hodder [link]
2: "The [Olympic] velodrome achieves a better match of concept, detail and purpose." —Rowan Moore, The Guardian [link]
1: "‘I was not expecting Zaha to win and the decision by the judges to select Zaha two years in a row marks a return to showy iconic designs." —Robert Kennett, Eric Parry Architects [link]
· Hadid wins Stirling Prize [FT]
· Reaction to Hadid's Stirling Prize win: 'There was a collective groan' [The Architect's Journal]
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