从蓝铃花林地中拔地而起，被起伏的山丘环抱，克罗伊登这座粉红和棕褐色砖塔楼群是享有盛誉的RIBA斯特林奖的苦乐参半的得主。如果安迪·伯纳姆正在为他的伟大“市政住房建设复兴”寻找灵感，他不妨前往克罗伊登参观。在那里，坐落在陡峭斜坡上的建筑群，被成熟树木的树冠所庇护，矗立着一簇晶莹剔透的粉红和棕褐色砖塔楼，宽敞的公寓俯瞰着菜园、游乐场以及伦敦南部起伏山丘的景色。
Rising from bluebell woodlands and framed by rolling hills, this cluster of pink and brown brick towers in Croydon is a bittersweet winner of the prestigious RIBA Stirling prize If Andy Burnham is looking for inspiration for his great “council housebuilding comeback”, he would do well to visit Croydon. There, nestled into a steeply sloping site, sheltered by a canopy of mature trees, stands a cluster of crystalline pink and brown brick towers, where generous flats look on to a landscape of allotments, playgrounds and to the rolling hills of south London beyond.
由玛丽·达根建筑事务所设计，拉夫建筑事务所协作，它是市政主导住房建设的典范——如此典范，以至于它还被评为今年英国最佳建筑，打破了博彩公司对其的冷门赔率。
Designed by Mary Duggan Architects, with Ruff Architects, it is a model of council-led housebuilding – so much so that it has also been named this year’s best building in the UK, confounding the bookies’ outsider odds.
RIBA斯特林奖此前仅曾一次授予市政住房项目，即2019年诺里奇的金斯密斯街因其低能耗砖砌排屋而获奖，由米哈伊尔·里奇斯建筑事务所和凯西·霍利设计。今年的获奖者——克罗伊登库尔森的狮子绿路——是完全不同的类型，它在政府计划向该行业投入390亿英镑之际，重新将聚焦点放回住房设计上。这也是克罗伊登议会前身住房公司“砖砌筑家”（Brick by Brick）苦乐参半的 vindication ——这是之前工党政府的一项大胆却短暂的实验，该公司在2020年议会破产时被叫停，导致众多项目取消。
Only once before has the RIBA Stirling prize ever been awarded to a council housing project, when Goldsmith Street in Norwich scooped the gong in 2019, for its rows of low-energy brick terraces, designed by Mikhail Riches Architects and Cathy Hawley. This year’s winner, Lion Green Road in Coulsdon, is an entirely different animal, and it puts a welcome spotlight back on housing design at a time when the government plans to pump £39bn into the sector. It is also a bittersweet vindication of Croydon council’s erstwhile housebuilding company, Brick by Brick, a bold and sadly brief experiment by the previous Labour administration, which was halted in 2020 when the council went bankrupt, seeing numerous projects cancelled.