David Kohn Architects’ New College expansion and FCBS’ Foggo office overhaul among 13 shortlisted schemes
David Kohn Architects’ Gaudi-inspired Oxford college expansion is among 13 projects shortlisted for this year’s RIBA South Awards.
The firm’s Gradel Quadrangles scheme at New College, the first new addition to the college since the 1860s, includes 76 student bedrooms in a theatrical, undulating building drawing on the structural expressiveness of Antoni Gaudi.
The 2026 shortlist also includes the refurbishment of Peter Foggo’s grade II-listed Mountbatten House in Basingstoke, designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Grant Associates, Twelve Architects and Studio Knight Stokoe.
The overhaul of the 1976 office, considered one of the most significant examples of British modernism outside London, was completed in 2024 with the building now renamed Plant.
Others on the shortlist include the conservation of a grade I-listed barn by BHB Architects, an expansion of Corpus Christi College in Oxford by Wright & Wright Architects and a rural private home by Studio Weave.
RIBA South jury chair, Claire Taggart, associate director at Hayhurst and Co, described the shortlist as “delightfully diverse, with projects demonstrating excellence across many different aspects”.
She added: “The shortlist celebrates ambitious and original design, exceptional detailing and craft, innovative adaptation and retrofit, meticulous repair and restoration and brave client and project team collaborations.
”The jury were particularly heartened to see sustainable agendas at the heart of many of the entries, through adaptive re-use, low-carbon construction and commitment to ambitious low-energy and net-zero strategies.”
All projects shortlisted for RIBA Awards will be visited by a regional jury with the winning projects to be announced later this spring.
The winners will then be considered for several RIBA South Special Awards, including the RIBA South Sustainability Award and RIBA South Building of the Year, before being considered for a RIBA National Award, which will be announced this summer.
The shortlist for the RIBA Stirling Prize will be drawn from the RIBA National Award-winning projects and announced in September. The Stirling Prize winner will be announced in October.
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