One of the York Handmade Brick Company’s most acclaimed projects has won the prestigious 2022 RIBA Stirling Prize for architecture.
York Handmade, based at Alne, near Easingwold, in North Yorkshire, provided more than 300,000 bricks for the magnificent new Magdalene College Library at Cambridge University.
The library beat five other projects to triumph in this year’s Stirling Prize, the highest accolade in architecture. It is awarded for the UK’s best new building of the past 12 months.
The contract was worth £300,000 for York Handmade, one of the leading independent brickmakers in the UK.
The prize-winning architects for the new library at Magdalene College were London-based Niall McLaughlin.
David Armitage, chairman of York Handmade, commented: “It is a tremendous honour to have played a pivotal role in creating a building which has won the Stirling Prize. There is no more significant or coveted prize in the architectural world.
“We were so proud when we were asked to provide our bricks for such a prestigious project. Magdalene has a rich cultural heritage and this stunning new building reflects this.
“The finished building is absolutely magnificent and provides a wonderful place for Magdalene students to work. It is one of our flagship projects over the past few years and we are proud of what we have achieved.”
The Stirling Prize judges praised the new library, called it “exquisitely detailed and solid and confident, yet deferential new kid on the college block”.
York Handmade was selected primarily for the colour and the character of its brick, but also because of the company’s ability to manufacture a wide range of intricate specials and sizes to fit in with the design specified by the architect.
Mr Armitage said: “We supplied no less than 40 different sized or special-shaped bricks for this scheme and the quality of the brickwork is outstanding.”
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