Liverpool’s Everyman has been shortlisted for the 2014 Royal Institute of British Architects Awards (RIBA) Stirling Prize, the world’s most prestigious architecture prize, pitting it against the likes of The Shard, the Olympic Aquatic Centre and Manchester School of Art.
Along with the main award, which will be presented on 16 October, the public can have their say by voting for the People’s Choice Award which will be awarded on the same night.
More than 4,500 people came through the doors on the first day and 30,000 more have visited since the theatre opened, highlighting the love people have for the Hope Street venue. In a similar poll by the Guardian, shortly after the Stirling Prize shortlist was announced, the Everyman took 58% of the vote and the theatre hope the city will get behind it once more to win the People’s prize.
Have your say for theatre to win People’s Choice Award at Stirling Prize
To vote for the Everyman, visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29519256
Since it opened in March, the Everyman has already won the RIBA North West Building of the Year at the regional round in April and won a National Award in June, has also been named World Architecture News Best Performance Space 2014.
Audiences have praised the new building since it reopened, calling it “shiny and new and yet comfortingly familiar at the same time” and “just enough of the old theatre to make it feel like home but with so many wonderful new additions”. Others have described the new Everyman as “utterly stunning” and “it’s the old Everymanâ¦..just new”.
The new Everyman, designed by Haworth Tompkins, includes new incarnations of its hallmark features – a 400-seat thrust auditorium and convivial basement bistro. 21st-century technical equipment, a rehearsal room, costume workshop and sound studio enhance both productions and training opportunities. A large studio dedicated to participatory work enables the theatre to involve more young people, schools and community groups and a Writers’ Room places artists at the heart of the building. The whole building is designed to be both exceptionally accessible for those with disabilities and highly environmentally sustainable, while the façade features an innovative Portrait Wall comprised of 105 diverse people of Liverpool.
The RIBA Stirling Prize, sponsored by Brockton Capital, is awarded to the architects of the building that has made the greatest contribution to British architecture in the past year. The prize will be presented on Thursday 16 October at RIBA headquarters in London.
