Assemble, Architectural Record's September Firm to Watch, has won the 2015 Turner Prize, Great Britain’s most prestigious artistic honor, issued by the Tate. The London-based architecture collective, founded by University of Cambridge graduates in 2010, is the first design group to win the prize, typically bestowed to an artist, since the award's inception in 1984.
Assemble's community-oriented projects—which include a playground, a community square, performance venues, and artist studios—blur the line between architecture, art, and social practice. In 2013, the group teamed up with residents of Liverpool's Toxteth neighborhood to revitalize several neglected housing blocks, an initiative called the Granby Four Street Project.
Musician and artist Kim Gordon presented the firm with the £25,000 prize today at a ceremony in Glasgow, Scotland. Assemble’s work will be on view at Tramway, a local contemporary art space, until January 17.