International Building Beauty Prize

2024 WINNER

Market Hall, Saint-Dizier, France

Studiolada for City of Saint-Dizier

Market building that revitalises the centre of Saint-Dizier by providing premises for butchers, bakers, greengrocers and other local merchants. The envelope, composed of locally-quarried stone, is articulated by a series of varied catenary arches, These provide structural support for a largely column-free interior, allowing the full drama of the wooden rib vaults to be expressed. A serious essay in civic architecture that gives Saint-Dizier a delightful focal point.

Highly Commended 2024

Vaga Water Tower, Vaga, Sweden

White Arkitekter for Vivab

Water tower composed wholly of concrete and taking the form of nine linear reservoir basins supported on slender columns, a departure from the usual vertical cylindrical form adopted for this building type. Within the overall Brutalist aesthetic there is refined modelling of the basins, each of which has a concave front and a curved apron for a base. The result is a powerful sculptural adornment to the local landscape.

Đạo Mẫu Museum, Hanoi, Vietnam

ARB Architects for Xuan Hinh

Museum venerating the mother goddess Đạo Mẫu and composed of a series of small buildings placed in an orchard in such as way that none of the existing trees was disturbed: an uplifting example of treading lightly. Deference to the earth on which these buildings sit is reinforced by the use throughout of thin clay tiles recycled from old houses in the vicinity. Beautiful thinking has resulted in a beautiful composition.