Bangladesh rug factory Green Field Factory wins 2026 RIBA International Prize

A rug factory built for 5,000 workers in Rangpur, Bangladesh, has won the 2026 RIBA International Prize, the Royal Institute of British Architects' award for the world's best new building outside the UK.

Dhaka-based Nakshabid Architects designed Green Field Factory for rug manufacturer Karupannya Rangpur Limited, and the jury praised it for passive design and for prioritising employee wellbeing. It's the fifth winner of the biennial prize, announced last night at the Stirling Prize ceremony in London.

"Green Field Factory redefines manufacturing architecture in South Asia and beyond," said RIBA president Christ Williamson. "By putting people, wellbeing and their everyday experiences at its core and actively supporting its female workforce, it proves that thoughtful design can dismantle traditional hierarchies to create profound social and environmental change."

How do two staircases dismantle a hierarchy?

The building has one main entrance and two grand staircases shared by every worker. That's a pointed answer to neighbouring factories, which run separate doors for line staff and management. The stairs do the politics.

The seven-storey building sits among fields and small settlements, and its plan borrows from the traditional Bengali home. Courtyards, verandas, gardens and a monumental green facade pull in natural light and airflow, cutting the need for mechanical systems.

Shared break spaces, a rooftop daycare centre, an on-site medical practice, a grocery shop and a prayer room serve workers' families and the wider community during and beyond working hours. Low-maintenance planting runs through the building and supports insects and birds, while artwork and sculptures celebrate women's roles in the workplace, family and community.

Grand jury chair Bijoy Jain didn't hold back on the framing. "The project demonstrates the dissolution of architecture as a topological space, with a single-pointed focus on dismantling civilisational oppression and hierarchy, for woman and man alike," he said.

"Through the simple gesture of two grand stairs as an equanimous shared portal, it transforms a space and symbol once reserved exclusively for the king of the region, as landlord and ruling class, and for the colonial power that pervaded the length and breadth of the country," Jain continued.

He added that the architect and owner described women and men bringing their families to the factory with pride, "and the women empowered in their self-reliance to take life and familial decisions on their own".

Who did it beat?

RIBA awards the International Prize biennially to a building that "demonstrates visionary, innovative thinking, and design excellence whilst making a distinct contribution for its users and within its physical context".

Green Field Factory saw off three finalists:

• BRAC University in Bangladesh, by WOHA
• Z33 art museum in Belgium, by Francesca Torzo Architetto
• The Royale Belge renovation in Belgium, by Caruso St John Architects, Bovenbouw Architectuur and DDS+

The same ceremony sent this year's Stirling Prize to Mary Duggan Architects and Ruff Architects for the Lion Green Road housing development in London.

RIBA also named Maker Architecten winner of the International Emerging Architect Award for YIMBY, a residential project in Kortrijk, Belgium that rebuilt 18 plots in a 1920s garden city neighbourhood using reclaimed facades and communal green space.

Peris + Toral Arquitectes took the last International Prize in 2024 for a social housing project in Barcelona. Two editions on, the award has moved from housing to a factory — a signal that the world's most-cited architecture prize now rates a rug plant in Rangpur alongside Europe's museums.