The Building Beauty Awards Announces 2023 Judging Panel and Presenter

The Building Beauty Awards are delighted to announce their 2023 judging panel, chaired by one of Britain’s foremost design critics, Stephen Bayley Hon FRIBA. Additionally, award-winning poet, novelist and artist Ben Okri has been announced as the presenter of this year’s awards, which are run by the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust and sponsored by leading developer Ballymore.

This year’s presenter, Ben Okri, is a poet, novelist and artist whose writing challenges his readers’ perceptions of reality. He returned to Nigeria with his parents on the eve of the Nigerian Civil War, having moved to England as a child, and this experience has had a defining impact on his life and work. Ben’s novel, The Famished Road, won the Booker Prize in 1991, and was the first Booker Prize winner to go straight to number one in the paperback bestseller lists. He sees himself primarily as a poet, maintaining that his artistic response to life is expressed most naturally through poetry. A lot of his work focuses on the potential of Africa and the world for self-transformation and overcoming the problems of modernity, with his most recent work being predominantly environmental in spirit. His latest work, Tiger Work, is a suite of short stories, poems and essays on climate change.

Joining Stephen Bayley on the judging panel this year are architectural commentator Paul Finch OBE, founding Principal of Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands Architects Alex Lifschutz, BAFTA award-winning artist, photographer and filmmaker Alison Jackson, co-founder of the interdisciplinary engineering practice AKT II Professor Hanif Kara OBE, and acclaimed postmodern architect Piers Gough CBE RA.

Paul Finch OBE is an esteemed architectural commentator, as well as being programme director of the World Architecture Festival and deputy chairman of the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust. Over the years, Paul has edited some of the architectural world’s most renowned titles, as well as acting as chairman and deputy chairman for some of the most important commissions and councils in the sector. In 2002, Paul’s work was recognised with the awarding of an OBE for services to architecture.

Alex Lifschutz is the founding Principal of Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands Architects, under which he has established a longstanding relationship with communities and businesses on London’s South Bank, working with the Coin Street Community Builders to regenerate a run-down area through the development of cooperative housing and new urban realm initiatives. His Illuminated River project, completed in 2021, won the Public Space category in last year’s inaugural Building Beauty Awards.

Alison Jackson is a BAFTA and multi-award-winning artist, photographer and filmmaker who explores the cult of celebrity through her work. She creates highly convincing portrayals of the imaged private lives of public figures using lookalikes, exploring our insatiable desire to get a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of public personalities, and raising questions about the power and seductive nature of imagery which incites our need to believe. Her work has been exhibited globally, including by the MOMA in San Francisco and The National Portrait Gallery, among others. In 2019 she founded the Photography Initiative, aimed at cultivating and nurturing creative talent in young people who would otherwise lack access to opportunities.

As co-founder and design director of the interdisciplinary engineering practice AKT II, Professor Hanif Kara OBE brings over forty years of international design experience to the judging panel. He’s also a professor in the practice of architectural technology with the Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, as well as currently being appointed as a Design Advocate for the Mayor of London.

An acclaimed postmodern architect, Piers Gough CBE RA has established himself as a leader in his field. In 1975, he co-founded CZWG Architects, and has worked on famous buildings including the Westbourne Grove Public Lavatory and Flower Kiosk and Islington Square, among others. He also works as Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy Schools.

Launched by The Royal Fine Art Commission Trust in 2022, the Building Beauty Awards celebrate buildings, engineering structures and urban landscaping schemes that add beauty to our environment. Everyone from architects to members of the public is welcome to submit an entry free of charge at www.buildingbeautyawards.com. The deadline for entries is 15 May 2023.