The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) have revealed the Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología (UTEC), located in Lima and designed by Dublin-based practice Grafton Architects, as the winner of the inaugural RIBA International Prize. A longlist of thirty projects, published in May of this year, was narrowed down to six in October before a grand jury—chaired by Richard Rogers—selected the scheme as "an exceptional example of civil architecture."
The project, which sits on the border of two residential districts in the Peruvian capital, perches on the edge of a natural inner-city ravine. It is conceived as a piece of geology, mirroring the organic curve of the landscape and accommodating itself in the city. "To its close neighbours," the RIBA have suggested, it appears as "a series of landscaped terraces with clefts, overhangs and grottos – a modern day Machu Picchu."
