The UK's best new building

2023 RIBA Stirling Prize to John Morden Centre by Mæ

John Hill

20. October 2023

Photo: Jim Stephenson (All images courtesy of RIBA)

The Royal Institute of British Architects has announced the winner of the 27th RIBA Stirling Prize: Mæ's John Morden Centre, which provides social and medical facilities for residents of Morgan College, a 300-year-old residential and nursing facility in Blackheath, London.

Last night's announcement of the latest Stirling Prize winner happened during a ceremony in Manchester that took place a month and a half after the six-strong shortlist was revealed. The John Morden Centre, one of the five shortlisted projects located in London, serves as a day care center for the residents of Morgan College, whose original Grade I-listed complex is attributed to Christopher Wren. Mæ, founded by architect Alex Ely in 2001, describes the building as “an innovative, characterful new building designed to tackle social isolation among older residents by providing spaces to interact.” The project brought together functions — treatment rooms, a hair salon, a nail bar, an event space, and wellbeing facilities — that were previously spread across the college site.

Photo: Jim Stephenson

“The John Morden Centre is a place of joy and inspiration. It sensitively and seamlessly integrates medical facilities and social spaces, delivering a bold and hopeful model for the design of health and care centres for the elderly. Dedication to creating an environment that lifts the spirits and fosters community is evident at every turn and in every detail. This robust building provides comfort and warmth, with thoughtful features designed to prevent isolation. It illustrates how buildings can themselves be therapeutic – supporting care and instilling a sense of belonging. Great architecture orients people so they can thrive, and this building is exemplary at achieving exactly that.”
Ellen van Loon, jury chair

Photo: Jim Stephenson

The selection of John Morden Centre, not to mention last month's shortlist, reinforces the movement of the Stirling Prize — alongside other prizes that recognize buildings rather than architects, such as the EUmies Award — away from cultural icons and other high-budget, high-profile buildings, and toward buildings with strong social programs and other characteristics in line with a global context of growing inequality and dwindling resources. Structured in timber and faced in brick, the John Morden Centre serves a community of 300, all of whom are in financial need. With people living longer than ever before and the global population therefore getting older, the attention the Stirling Prize gives to John Morden Centre might just let it serve as a model for other nursing facilities in and beyond the UK.