Madrid airport wins architecture prize

LONDON, Oct 15 (Reuters) Madrid's new airport building, designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership and Spanish partners Lamela Studios, has won Britain's prestigious Stirling prize for architecture.

''Its a hymn to travel, to the excitement of travel,'' Richard Rogers of the new terminal and its satellite building after winning the award and its 20,000 pounds prize money.

''I think overall it has been extremely successful,'' Rogers told BBC television today.

Rogers, one of the world's best known architects, said the goal for the 1.2 billion pound New Area Terminal at Barajas Airport in Madrid was to create a ''great wave of a roof'' and to bring light into the structure.

The opening of the new terminal in February 2006 doubled the size of the airport, making it the second biggest in Europe and 10th in the world.

The architect said he wanted to make sure the 1 million square metre space was not dominated by shops or infrastructure such as escalators and baggage belts.

The building is characterised by natural light and structural supports painted in a graduated colour scheme to create a 1 km-long vista.

Previous winners of the prize, named after architect James Stirling and given by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), include the Scottish Parliament building, the ''Gherkin'' Swiss Re tower in London and Gateshead's Millennium Bridge in northern England.

REUTERS SY BST1925