Building of the Year: The RIBA Stirling Prize

Congrats to Norman Foster, architect of the Erotic Gherkin for winning first prize! This beautiful London icon is the first environmentally friendly skyscraper in the city. 50{a9f0d31f6175b3e4775e11a66c07db268fb74408d6095f6b46eeec420c0e9f62} Of the building is still vacant and waiting for tenants, so I hope this recognition will increase demand.

However our favourite to win was Kunsthaus in Graz, Austria by Peter Cook and Colin Fournier of Spacelab. It looks like a bulgy shiny alien-slug with curious warts on its back. That may sound ugly but its really beautiful! In fact, we are so in love with this building, we are planning a trip to Austria just to see it. Check it out in all its glory here, here and here.

The shiny outer skin is a media facade by BIX. A matrix of 930 fluorescent lamps transforms the eastern acrylic glass facade into a giant low resolution computer display. The BIX media facade has been nominated for the “Inspire Award”. They need your online vote to win!

The inside of this contemporary art gallery is just as impressive as the outside. Travellators take visitors to the oddly shaped exhibition spaces deep within the alien’s gut. Because there are no straight walls, artists often have to design special works for the Kunsthaus.

Kunsthaus Graz is Archigram at its best!