The RIBA Stirling Prize has gone to the Cambridge University Sainsbury Laboratory, with its yellow Jaumont French limestone inside and out installed by London stone specialist Szerelmey contrasting with bare concrete and glass.

The Award was presented in Manchester on 13 October, the £20,000 cheque and the prestige of the Stirling Prize going to London-based architect Stanton Williams.

The building sits comfortably in the Cambridge University Botanic Gardens.

Three of the elevations have a total of 168 Jaumont columns, which are also fins that shelter the windows from the sun.

The columns bring a strong vertical emphasis to the building, making it appear taller that it is, while the bands in the stone flow from column to column giving horizontal continuity.

Stone features strongly in the building, including internal cladding, flooring and an inner stone staircase that links the two above ground storeys to the subterranean level.

The stone forms an integral part of the project and the use of natural materials sits well within its surroundings.

But the Sainsbury Laboratory was not the only building in the Stirling Prize shortlist of six that Szerelmey had contributed to.

The stone specialist has also been involved with New Court at Rothschilds Bank, a development by Ellen van Loon and the OMA Architecture team.

Both of the projects benefited from the contribution made by Szerelmey, which had offered innovative solutions on both projects.

On the Sainsbury Laboratory, Mark Walden and his team at Szerelmey designed bespoke fixings and even the lifting gear to put the stone in place. At New Court Szerelmey provided an innovative solution to provide a raised stone floor and matching suspended ceiling.

To see a video of Stanton Williams receiving the Award by click here.

The artist Susanna Heron also made a contribution to the Sainsbury Laboratory in conjunction with stoneCIRCLE, which you can read about in the Readers Projects report.