The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has named Goldsmith Street in Norwich, England, winner of the 2019 RIBA Stirling Prize for the UK's best new building. Designed by Mikhail Riches with Cathy Hawley, the highly energy-efficient residential development meets Passivhaus standards, with annual energy costs estimated to be 70 percent cheaper than the average household.

Photo © Tim Crocker, courtesy RIBA

The social housing project contains some 100 brick homes of two and three stories, arranged in rows. While units share central terraces and a wide, landscaped walkway, each has its own front door and private balcony.

Julia Barfield served as chair of the 2019 RIBA Stirling Prize judges, who called Goldsmith Street a "modest masterpiece."

"It is high-quality architecture in its purest, most environmentally and socially conscious form," continued the judges. "This is proper social housing, over ten years in the making, delivered by an ambitious and thoughtful council. These desirable, spacious, low-energy properties should be the norm for all council housing."

Goldsmith Street also won RIBA's inaugural Neave Brown Award for Housing. Ben Derbyshire, chair of the award and former RIBA president, said, "The UK urgently needs more ambition and creativity to drive the housing revolution that is needed, and Goldsmith Street shows us how it can be done.”