LONDON.- The shortlist for the prestigious 2013 RIBA Lubetkin Prize for the best international building has been announced yesterday (Thursday 18 July). Three exceptional projects - two in South East Asia and one in the USA - will be considered for the prize presented by the Royal Institute of British Architects’.

The 2013 RIBA Lubetkin Prize shortlist features Via Verde – The Greenway, a highly sustainable and affordable housing development in New York City; Gardens by the Bay by last year’s RIBA Lubetkin prize-winning architects, Wilkinson Eyre, which creates 2 hectares of indoor gardens in Singapore within the world’s biggest climate-controlled greenhouses; and Zaha Hadid’s Galaxy Soho a beautiful new shopping and office complex rising from a new lower-ground public space in central Beijing.

The full shortlist for the 2013 RIBA Lubetkin Prize is:

Cooled Conservatories, Gardens by the Bay, Singapore by Wilkinson Eyre
The biggest climate-controlled greenhouses in the world create an enormous new indoor garden for Singapore This carbon-positive scheme comprises two hectares under glass within a new 54 hectare garden, pushing the boundaries both structurally and environmentally. This is an outstanding example of sustainability in action.

Galaxy Soho, Beijing, China by Zaha Hadid Architects
Dynamic new commercial centre that rises from a lower-ground public space in central Beijing. This scheme is civic as much as it is commercial, with well-detailed seating and fountains – yet it also more than pays its way, being fully let before completion. The light and airy public spaces are truly innovative in a sprawling, dense urban context – cities in the West could learn much from this project.

Via Verde – The Green Way, Bronx, New York City by Grimshaw
Highly sustainable and affordable new homes, the result of the city’s first social housing design competition. With allotments on its roofs tended by residents, and the use of stairs not lifts, this fine scheme shows that good architecture can make us fitter! This project could be the blueprint for New York’s future housing.

The winner of the RIBA Lubetkin Prize will be announced on the evening of Thursday 26 September by the RIBA in London.

Speaking today, Angela Brady, RIBA President, said: 'The 2013 RIBA Lubetkin Prize shortlist features three exceptionally innovative projects that meet three very different urban challenges. From the blueprint for New York affordable housing and the creation of an impressive new shopping district in central Beijing to Singapore’s new sustainable gardens, these are all extremely clever solutions. These cutting-edge schemes show the leading role that architects play in delivering visionary new thinking about urban issues, and illustrate why UK creative talent has such recognition around the world.'

The jury selecting the shortlist was RIBA President-Elect Stephen Hodder, Alison Brooks, Meredith Bowles, Peter Clegg (visiting jury), Tony Chapman (visiting jury).