Stirling Prize Success News from the School of Art, Architecture and Design

The gallery designed for Damien Hirst by The Cass tutor Peter St John's practice Caruso St John has won the prestigious Stirling Prize 2016.

Newport Street Gallery in Vauxhall, which was designed by Caruso St John for artist Damien Hirst, has won the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Stirling Prize 2016. Peter St John, who is a partner at the practice, teaches on Unit 12 of the Professional Diploma in Architecture – RIBA2 at The Cass.

The RIBA Stirling Prize is the UK's most prestigious architecture prize. Every year it is presented to the architects of the building that has made the greatest contribution to the evolution of architecture in the past year.

Newport Street Gallery has involved the conversion of an extraordinary terrace of listed industrial buildings, which were formerly theatre carpentry and scenery painting workshops. The gallery forms the whole length of the street, with the three listed Victorian buildings flanked at either end by new buildings. The ground and upper floors within the five buildings are continuous, allowing them to be used flexibly in many combinations to accommodate both large and small exhibitions. There are three large galleries on each of the two floors, stretching in a line from one end of the building to the other.

The other shortlisted buildingswere Blavatnik School of Government by Herzog & de Meuron, City of Glasgow College, Riverside Campus by Michael Laird Architects and Reiach and Hall Architects, Outhouse by Loyn & Co Architects, Trafalger Place by dRMM Architects and Weston Library by Wilkinson Eyre.