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Please note that eligibility for the Stephen Lawrence Prize has changed. Until 2022, the prize has been awarded to a project with a construction budget of less than £1 million, it will now instead be awarded to a project led by an early career architect – aimed at celebrating new architectural talent. Find out more on the revisions to the prize.

The Royal Institute of British Architects has named The Hackney School of Food as the winner of the Stephen Lawrence Prize 2022.

The annual prize was established in 1998 in memory of Stephen Lawrence, a teenager who was on his way to becoming an architect when he was tragically murdered in a racist attack in 1993. Supported and founded by the Marco Goldschmied Foundation, it aims to encourage new architectural talent, celebrating and rewarding projects with a construction budget of less than £1 million.

Previously a derelict school keeper’s house and garage, The Hackney School of Food provides a unique service in the area: an inspiring place to teach children how to grow, cook and eat food, whilst also serving as a crucial community hub.

Due to limited space and budget, Surman Weston looked to retrofit the existing building to realise the client’s vision. Whilst externally, the house appears unchanged, inside it is transformed by the removal of the first floor to create an impressive double-height space. Outside, the derelict gardens have been overhauled to provide vegetable patches, greenhouses and outdoor cooking and eating spaces, forming part of the welcoming oasis for children to learn all about food.

Matthew Goldschmied said: “The success of the Hackney School of Food is not limited to this one site. The architect and client have developed an inspirational blueprint to teach others how to regenerate and enliven their own communities in a similar way. This bold and inventive investment exemplifies the power of architecture to transform not only the building it touches, but the community it serves.”

The judges for the 2022 Stephen Lawrence Prize were:

• Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon Doreen Lawrence OBE
• Matthew Goldschmied, Managing Trustee of the Marco Goldschmied Foundation, which established the Stephen Lawrence Prize in 1998
• Mike Tonkin, Tonkin Liu, winner of the 2021 Stephen Lawrence Prize
• Adefunmilayo Adebiyi, Visiting Juror on behalf of the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation, Student at the London School of Architecture