The University of Warwick’s Faculty of Arts building has been shortlisted for the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Stirling Prize 2023. 

The £60m building is one of six on the final shortlist for the prestigious award, and the only one outside of London.  

Designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, the building brings together the departments and schools of the faculty under one roof.  

Providing a world-class centre for teaching and research, it includes an antiquities room, cinema, theatre studios and a media lab, along with multi-purpose events and exhibition spaces. 

Sitting at the heart of a campus which is designed to have a parkland feel, the building was conceived as four light-filled pavilions grouped around a central stair, sitting amongst the mature trees of its site.  

The footprint was designed to keep existing large trees including oaks, pines and poplars. Innovation is at the very core of the building structure, with four distinct pavilion buildings connected by a full-height atrium, creating an open space for creative thinking, and cross collaboration across the arts.  

The public realm extends into the exhibition, social learning, and café use on the ground floor. An internal “street” provides a route through the building. Lit from above by natural light, it is designed to be a flexible space, providing breakout areas for the auditoria, theatre performance, and cinema spaces that open onto it.  

Commenting on the shortlisting, Vice-Provost and Chair of the Faculty of Arts, Rachel Moseley, said: “It’s a huge honour for our Faculty of Arts building to be nominated for RIBA’s prestigious Stirling Prize.  

“The building is designed to encourage collaborative working and to inspire creative learning and research across and between disciplines. It's already become a much- loved space for students and colleagues from across the University, and as the only recognised building outside of London. 

“The building underlines our deep commitment to the arts and humanities at Warwick – we've invested over £100m in the FAB and improving our world class arts centre. It’s a testament to our passion for art and humanities subjects and the building really is a material expression of that.”  

Keith Bradley, Founding Partner at Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, added: “Being shortlisted for the Stirling Prize is very special as an acknowledgement of our work with the University of Warwick as well as with the wider consultant and contractor team on the Faculty of Arts Building. 

“What we have created together is a place that students, academics, and other staff want to be - facilitating interactive learning and research in a set of ‘live’ physical spaces - having returned from the digital world that dominated in the Covid years. Warwick’s Faculty of Arts is a place that connects its people and the wider natural landscape setting. Essential requirements for wellbeing that makes Architecture a Social and Environmental Art”. 

Following on from the successful shortlisting process, the University’s Faculty of Arts building will now go onto the RIBA Stirling Prize in recognition of architectural excellence on 19 October 2023.