Social housing champion wins MJ Long Prize 2022

Monkman, a design team leader within the London borough’s architecture department and a ‘huge advocate’ for social housing, received the award at the W Lunch, held today (3 May 2022) at The Brewery, London.

It was given for her collective work as part of the Islington Architects team working on several social housing projects. These include Centurion Close, which adds eight two-bedroom council flats to an existing housing estate close to Caledonian Road, on a site that had been deemed unviable for developers.

The judges were incredibly impressed by her work, saying: ‘Centurion Close is able to infiltrate the nooks and crannies of Caledonian Road; this work could and should be replicated elsewhere.

‘That’s the role – the very important role – that these awards play today. Monkman shows that tenacity is the way to do it and get things done.’

Ruth Lang wrote in the Architectural Review in March: ‘Monkman is a huge advocate for the power these schemes hold to beneficially affect residents' lives on a daily basis, through the space provided, the aspirations they set, the improved quality of life, and the “increased life chances” that such care to where we live can bring … It’s this effect on the daily lives of Islington’s residents which has the most value for the architecture created.

‘Centurion Close might be a quiet intervention, rather than offering headline-grabbing monumentality, but it is one which has an instrumental effect in building a civic legacy for the borough.’

Monkman has always taken on roles within local authorities, and joined Islington in 1997. Islington’s Architects’ Department has since evolved from a council service to become an RIBA chartered practice.

Also shortlisted for the MJ Long Prize were Sophie Mitchell of Nissen Richards Studio, Hannah Stringer of AOC and DSDHA's Anne Wynne.

The award was judged by AKT II co-founder Hanif Kara, critic Catherine Slessor and MJ Long’s daughter Sal Wilson. The panel was chaired by AJ technical editor Fran Williams.

Last year, Peter Barber Architects associate director Alice Brownfield won the prize in its second year of running. Brownfield was handed the award, named in memory of inspirational architect, lecturer and writer Mary Jane (MJ) Long, for her ‘incredible’ work on Kiln Place, a local authority-backed infill housing project on a London council estate.

The annual prize – now in its third year – is open to UK-based female architects and judged on an overall body of work with the emphasis on a project completed within the previous 18 months.

Meanwhile the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture was awarded to Swati Janu. The award recognises excellence in design and a bright future for international designers under the age of 45.

Janu, founder of Social Design Collaborative won the prize for her work in the city of Delhi and the territory around the Yamuna River, equipping local communities with the skills to navigate complex planning processes that seek to evict them. One of the projects included the demountable ModSkool, designed in 2017, then dismantled and rebuilt and added to in 2019.

The judges – Eva Jiřičná, Meneesha Kellay, Rozana Montiel (a previous Moira Gemmill Prize winner) and Ellis Woodman – said: ‘Janu captures the presence of an absence, redrawing the map to make local lives visible. She is a facilitator, showing that the architect has a place alongside human rights lawyers, activists and community leaders.

‘The work of Social Design Collaborative is evidence that it is okay for architects not always to build but to support people who are already building.’

Also shortlisted for the prize were Ana Baptista of Portuguese practice Colectivo Mel, US-based Rania Ghosn of Design Earth and Counterspace's Sumayya Vally.

The MJ Long and Moira Gemmill prizes form part of the W Awards – the successor to the Women in Architecture awards – which celebrate exemplary work of all kinds, from the design of the world’s most significant new buildings to contributions to wider architectural culture, as well as from lifetimes of achievement to the work of women with bright futures ahead.

The other two prizes are the Jane Drew Prize for Architecture, which went to British-Iranian architect, educator and writer Farshid Moussavi, and the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize, honouring those working in the wider architecture industry, given to British-Palestinian sculptor and artist Mona Hatoum.

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