A Brazilian school made of wood is announced as world’s best building

Date
21 November 2018
Above

RIBA/Leonardo Finotti

The building-buffs at Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) are done furrowing their collective brow: the winner of the 2018 RIBA international prize for the best building in the world has been announced, and the gong has gone to a wooden school located in northern Brazil.

Tucked away on the fringes of a rainforest, Children Village is a sustainable and cost-efficient boarding school with space to take in around 540 students from around the South American country.

The result of a collaboration between architects Aleph Zero and designer Marcelo Rosenbaum, it has been praised by RIBA’s president Ben Derbyshire for being an “exceptional environment designed to improve the lives and wellbeing of the school’s children,” that also “illustrates the immeasurable value of good educational design."

Children’s Village took the top spot ahead of Budapest’s Central European University, Milan’s incredibly-intriguing Il Bosco Verticale development, and the Toho Gakuen School of Music over in Japan.

The prize is awarded on a bi-annual basis to “a building that exemplifies design excellence and architectural ambition, while also delivering meaningful social impact.”

Above

RIBA/Leonardo Finotti

Above

RIBA/Leonardo Finotti

Above

RIBA/Leonardo Finotti

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Josh Baines

Josh Baines joined It's Nice That from July 2018 to July 2019 as News Editor, covering new high-profile projects, awards announcements, and everything else in between.

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