Winner: Civic project of the year 2025. Serie Architects has designed the Shrimand Rajchandra Ashram Satsang Hall, a 5,000-seat Raj Sabhagruh discourse hall in Dharampur, India.

This project is an ambitious complex, housing a 5,000-seat auditorium, discourse rooms, classrooms and a 300-seat meditation hall, stacked within a 40-metre-tall building at the apex of a crescent-shaped, 60-metre hillock.

"The architecture that emerges can accommodate a wide range of uses and continues to evolve with the spiritual mission it serves," said Serie Architects.

Utilising more than 800,000 hand-laid discarded white marble bricks, this religious building also features a 1,000-square-metre museum celebrating the life of Shrimad Rajchandra and a library containing rare Jain texts and manuscripts for spiritual instruction.

Judge comments: "A clear winner, this building of substance is contemporary but clearly derived from its locale. It exudes impressive monumentally along with structural strength, while still managing to retain a human scale."

Studio: Serie Architects
Project: Shrimand Rajchandra Ashram Satsang Hall
Credits: Shrimad Rajchandra Mission, Lera Auditorium, RMM Designs, Arkk Consulting, Andy Munro Lighting, Clarity and Gleeds