Two projects in Bangladesh and two in Belgium shortlisted for International Prize
RIBA has unveiled four buildings on its shortlist for the best new building in the world.
Two projects in Bangladesh and two in Belgium have been shortlisted for RIBA’s International Prize with the winner set to be announced next month.
The list includes Caruso St John’s transformation of Royale Belge, a 1960s office building in Brussels originally designed by modernist architects René Stapels and Pierre Dufau.
The project has transformed the building into a mixed-use scheme containing offices, a hotel, restaurant and health club.
Nakshabid Architects Green Field Factory in Rangpur, Bangladesh, is a textile factory designed around the wellbeing of its 5,000 mostly female workers, featuring a series of calm communal spaces including cooling pools and open courtyards.
The shortlist is rounded off by Francesco Torzo Architetto’s extension of a 1950s museum in Hasselt, Belgium, and a 13-storey university campus in Dhaka, Bangladesh, designed by WOHA.
Neil Gillespie, chair of the RIBA Awards Group, said the shortlist “represents the full range of what the prize seeks to recognise - buildings that are rigorously designed, deeply considered, and genuinely meaningful to the people and places they serve”.
He added: “Each project demonstrates an exceptional understanding of its context, showing how architecture can enrich everyday life while responding with imagination and purpose to the complex challenges shaping our built environment.”
The winner will be announced on 15 October 2026 at the Stirling Prize ceremony in London.
What RIBA said about the four shortlisted projects
BRAC University
WOHA, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Built on a former landfill site in Dhaka, BRAC University transforms a neglected urban site into a vertical campus serving 20,000 students and public spaces, embedding the site into the local neighbourhood. The 15-storey building contains nine floors of teaching facilities topped with a publicly accessible park, creating a new design model for education in dense urban settings.
Using passive cooling strategies, natural cross-ventilation and extensive landscaping, the campus focuses on increasing climate resilience, while creating spaces for learning, interaction and community use. Through its integration of sustainability, education and public life, BRAC University demonstrates how architecture can support both environmental resilience and wider urban regeneration.
Green Field Factory of Karupannya Rangpur Limited
Nakshabid Architects, Rangpur, Bangladesh
Green Field reimagines the textile factory as a place of work, wellbeing and community. Inspired by rural Bengali homesteads, the seven-storey building integrates courtyards, water bodies, gardens and deep verandahs to create naturally ventilated workspaces that connect employees with the surrounding landscape.
Designed around principles of natural ventilation and integrating nature into the space through biophilic design, the factory uses greenery, natural light and flowing air to reduce reliance on mechanical systems while creating spaces for rest, interaction and recreation. By placing the experience and well-being of its workforce at the centre of its design, Green Field demonstrates how industrial architecture can strengthen urban regeneration.
Royale Belge
Caruso St John Architects and Bovenbouw Architectuur with DDS+, Watermael-Boitsfort, Brussels, Belgium
Located in South-East Brussels, surrounded by forest, the landmark building was originally designed by Belgian architect René Stapels and Pierre Dufau in the 1960s as the headquarters of the insurance company. Royale Belge has been transformed into a public destination combining a hotel, shared workspaces and a restaurant.
The project retains the protected structure, reuses existing materials wherever possible and introduces minimal interventions to improve energy performance. A new central hall carved through the existing podium creates a public space connecting the building’s different uses, demonstrating how modernist landmarks can be reconnected with contemporary city life.
Z33
Francesca Torzo Architetto, Hasselt, Belgium
Set within Hasselt’s historic Beguinage, a walled garden enclave of brick buildings at the heart of the city, Z33 extends and reimagines a 1958 museum as a space for contemporary art, design and public gathering. The new building sits in continuity with its historic surroundings, with a restrained brick facade to the street while opening onto a sequence of light-filled galleries, courtyards and gardens.
Using local materials, traditional craftsmanship and construction techniques, the project creates a dialogue between old and new. Inspired by the passages and gardens of the Beguinage, the extension demonstrates how cultural buildings can evolve while remaining rooted in the character of their place, creating a welcoming setting for culture and community.
No comments yet