Nakshabid Architects’ Green Field Factory in Bangladesh Wins the RIBA International Prize 2026

Green Field Factory, a rug factory in Rangpur, Bangladesh, designed by the Dhaka studio Nakshabid Architects, has won the RIBA International Prize 2026. The Royal Institute of British Architects gives this biennial award to the best new building outside the UK, and the factory is its fifth winner. The result was revealed on 15 October at the same London ceremony where Lion Green Road took the Stirling Prize.

The jury praised a workplace that relies on passive design and puts the wellbeing of its 5,000 employees first. RIBA president Chris Williamson said the building “redefines manufacturing architecture in South Asia and beyond”.

A seven-storey factory modelled on the Bengali home

The factory was commissioned by the rug maker Karupannya Rangpur Limited and rises seven storeys among fields and small settlements. Nakshabid Architects took the traditional Bengali house as its model. Courtyards, verandas, gardens and a huge planted facade draw daylight and moving air into the building, so that it depends far less on mechanical systems.

Planting that needs little maintenance runs through the whole complex and gives habitat to birds and insects. Artworks and sculptures placed around the building celebrate the role of women at work, in the family and in the wider community.

Two grand staircases shared by everyone

Many factories in the area have one entrance for workers and a separate one for managers. Green Field Factory has a single main entrance with two grand staircases used by all staff, a deliberate move against hierarchy at work. Shared spaces give workers somewhere to rest and socialise, and the building also serves families and neighbours with a daycare centre on the roof, an on-site medical practice, a grocery shop and a prayer room.

Grand jury chair Bijoy Jain said the “simple gesture of two grand stairs” turns an entrance once reserved for the region’s ruling class and the colonial power into a portal for all. He also noted that the women and men employed there “would bring their families with pride to show them where they worked”.

The RIBA International Prize 2026 shortlist

The other finalists were WOHA’s BRAC University in Bangladesh, Francesca Torzo Architetto’s Z33 art museum in Belgium and Royale Belge, also in Belgium, renovated by Caruso St John Architects with Bovenbouw Architectuur and DDS+. The previous edition, in 2024, went to Peris + Toral Arquitectes for social housing in Barcelona.

RIBA also gave its International Emerging Architect Award to Maker Architecten for YIMBY in Kortrijk, Belgium. The project reworked 18 plots in a garden city neighbourhood from the 1920s, used reclaimed materials for new facades and added shared green space.