The Lion Green Road housing in south London, designed by local studios Mary Duggan Architects with Ruff Architects, has won this year's RIBA Stirling Prize for the UK's best new building.
Located in Coulsdon, the high-density development commissioned by Croydon Council provides 157 homes across five blocks, which are stitched together by a series of shared green spaces.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) named the project as winner of the prestigious prize at a ceremony in London this evening.
It is the fourth housing scheme to win the prize since its inception 30 years ago, following Accordia in Cambridge in 2008, Goldsmith Street in Norwich in 2019 and Appleby Blue Almshouse in London in 2025.
The jury hailed Mary Duggan Architects and Ruff Architects for "addressing the pressing need for national housing" and providing environmentally considerate homes with ample access to light, nature and community.
"More than a housing development, the scheme has created a welcoming and inclusive place where people can connect with one another, and with nature," read the citation.
Lion Green Road comprises five blocks with a mix of private and socially rented homes. They are staggered across its steeply sloped site – a topographically challenging plot previously used as a car park.
The blocks have faceted, star-shaped plans, which are rotated to offer unique views across the landscape and ensure each home is dual-aspect, maximising natural light.
A trio of complementary brick types clad the buildings, helping to visually unify them while giving each its own unique aesthetic. Shared outdoor spaces that weave through the blocks enhance this unification, giving residents opportunities to meet and engage with each other.
RIBA president Chris Williamson said the scheme demonstrates how high-density housing "can be achieved without compromising the quality of the places we create".
"Through a consistent specification, with subtle variation in height and orientation, it offers housing at scale without uniformity," he reflected.
"The architects have created a new kind of garden neighbourhood that balances privacy and generous views with a strong connection to nature – it's a living landscape," Williamson continued.
"This is thoughtful, resourceful architecture that proves that even the most challenging of sites can be transformed into truly distinctive places for people to call home."
The RIBA Stirling Prize has been awarded annually to the UK's best new building since 1996. Lion Green Road was chosen from a six-strong shortlist, revealed in July.
It was announced as this year's winner at a ceremony at Old Billingsgate this evening, where RIBA also revealed the recipients of its four Special Awards.
This included the RIBA Neave Brown Award for Housing, which was won by Satish Jassal Architects for Rowan Court, a cluster of brick-clad social housing blocks in Seven Sisters.
Collaborators Samuel Chisholm Studio and Takero Shimazaki took home the RIBA Reinvention Award for Oru Sutton, a co-working space in an old department store, while Tonkin Liu Architects won the RIBA Client of the Year Award in recognition of the York Minster Centre of Excellence.
Finally, the RIBA Conservation Award was given to Architectural Thread for The Buttermarket, an arts-focused community hub in Cornwall, which also won the RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize for emerging architectural talent.
Previous winners of the Stirling Prize include London's Elizabeth Line in 2024, The New Library at Magdalene College in 2022 and a seaside pier in Hastings in 2017.
Last year's award, which was won by the "hopeful and imaginative" Appleby Blue Almshouse social housing, sparked concerns about London bias, with four of the six shortlisted buildings located in the capital city.
Earlier this year, the shortlist for the 2026 Stirling Prize was a topic of conversation in our Dezeen Weekly podcast, with our journalists pondering if architecture has become too boring.
The photography is by Lorenzo Zandri unless stated otherwise.