Dublin-based firm Grafton Architects has fought off stiff competition to claim the UK's most prestigious architecture award, the RIBA Stirling Prize.

The company was presented with the accolade at an event inside Coventry Cathedral for its work on Kingston University London - Town House. This ceremony also marked the 25th RIBA Stirling Prize cycle.

A progressive new model for the design of higher education buildings, the dynamic student 'Town House' captures the spirit of learning and the value of community cohesion.

Speaking about the project and the prize, Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell from Grafton Architects, said: "This building is about people, interaction, light, possibilities. It is about connecting to the community, the passer-by, an invitation to cross the threshold; a three-dimensional framework with layers of silence and layers of sound. Space, volume and light are the organisers. The building's edges are not boundaries but active gathering spaces, terraces, galleries. Being outside under the big sky is always just a few steps away. Kingston University gave us this educational vision which we translated into a spatial open matrix. We are absolutely delighted the Kingston Town House has won the prestigious Stirling Prize."

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Set back from the street, the project extends the public realm, generously blurring its boundary with the pavement and inviting everyone in – students, locals and visitors alike. A 200m long six-storey, deep colonnade offers shadow and shelter, with terraces and gardens above creating shelves of connected public space. The facades are permeable: open and transparent at the lower levels, becoming more shaded at upper levels.

Equally open and spacious inside, users and visitors are greeted by the public forum, leading to an amphitheatre. From the ground floor, eyes are drawn up through the building – through voids and staircases – to complementing social and study spaces. Exemplary acoustic design enables the bustling public forum, quiet library, archive, dance studio and theatre to co-exist, and enrich the experience of the users.  

Generous volumes allow people, light and air to flow naturally through the building, which also uses a thermally-activated concrete frame to reduce operational energy use.

Commenting on behalf of the 2021 RIBA Stirling Prize jury, Lord Norman Foster, added: "Kingston University Town House is a theatre for life – a warehouse of ideas. It seamlessly brings together student and town communities, creating a progressive new model for higher education, well deserving of international acclaim and attention. In this highly original work of architecture, quiet reading, loud performance, research and learning, can delightfully co-exist. That is no mean feat. Education must be our future – and this must be the future of education."