Business
& Labor
Red Location Museum Inaugurates Lubetkin Prize
(archrecord.construction.com - 08/02/2006)
By John
Gendall
The Royal Institute of British Architects’
inaugural Lubetkin Prize was awarded on June 23 to Noero Wolff
Architects for the Red Location Museum of the People’s
Struggle [RECORD March 06, page 98]. The prize honors
the most outstanding work of architecture outside the U.K.
and the European Union by a RIBA member. Named in honor of
Georgian architect Berthold Lubetkin, who founded the Tecton
Group, it was established this year with support from The
Architectural Review.
The museum is dedicated to the struggle
against apartheid. It is located in the formerly black township
of New Brighton, South Africa.
”We are overwhelmed at winning
the Lubetkin,” said Jo Noero, principal of the Capetown-based
architecture firm.
“Merging fine form with committed
social purpose—that was the primary objective in the
design of the museum. And to be recognized for achieving this
is the ultimate honor for us as a practice.”
The Canadian War Museum, designed by
Moriyaama and Teshima Architects with Griffiths Rankin Cook
Architects, and the Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular
and Biomolecular Research, by Behnisch Architekten with Architects
Alliance, were shortlisted for the prize. Of choosing the
Red Location Museum, Lubetkin juror and RIBA President Jack
Pringle explained, “To build a museum of the apartheid
era in the midst of the township that acted as a crucible
for the struggle is an extraordinary achievement. The Red
Location Museum brilliantly rises to the challenge, using
architectural skill of the highest order to produce an unforgettable
experience that is both viscerally and intellectually moving.”
RIBA launched the Lubetkin Prize to
expand its award program’s geographical scope, and the
organization hopes it will gain the same cachet as the Stirling,
the RIBA’s award for architecture in the UK. While the
Lubetkin doesn’t include a cash prize, a search for a
financial sponsor is underway.
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