A museum in Germany has won the prestigious Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Stirling Prize for 2007.
The Museum of Modern Literature in Marbach, near Stuttgart (southern Germany), was designed by the UK firm, David Chipperfield Architects. A modern building in concrete, stone and wood, it brings together the works of well-known German authors, including original manuscripts, from the former West and East Germany.

The annual Stirling Prize honours the building which has made the greatest contribution to British architecture. The German museum was shortlisted along with the America’s Cup building in Valencia, Spain;  the Casa da Musica concert hall in the city of  Porto, Portugal;  the redevelopment of Dresden railway station in Germany;  the Savill building at Windsor Great Park in Berkshire, southern England;  and the Young Vic theatre in London.

The presentation of the GBP (pounds sterling) 20,000 prize took place in an award ceremony at Camden, north London. The judges said of the German museum: “This is a building that is simultaneously rich and restrained….The architect’s control and discrimination in the choice of materials has by now become a signature, but above all it is in the handling of the ‘difficult whole’ that the building excels.”  They added, “This is a remarkably low-cost building in a high-cost country at just 2,180 pounds sterling per square metre.” 

Past winners of the RIBA Stirling Prize include Barajas airport in Madrid  (Spain), the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh, Gateshead Millennium Bridge in northern England, and Peckham Library in London.

RIBA, the UK body for architecture and the architectural profession, provides support for its 40,500 members worldwide and sets standards for the education of architects, both in the UK and overseas. The Institute’s annual awards schemes recognise outstanding architecture and culminate in the RIBA Stirling Prize