Six buildings have been shortlisted for the 2015 Stirling Prize with the winner to be announced on October 15th. The selection of properties for best building of the year are diverse, and they show that properties designed to serve ordinary people in their daily lives can be designed and built just as well as luxury properties. This shows that huge financial investments are not always necessary to make properties which look fantastic and function beautifully.

Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre in Lanarkshire is an early favourite to win the prize. The property has a stunning design with a matrix of courtyards that make it very light and airy. Maggie’s has a very unique approach to offering care, and requires buildings that facilitate this. The centre in Lanarkshire is designed to offer a feeling of peace, and makes a calming retreat.

The Whitworth Gallery in Manchester is expected to win if the judges focus on the culture of the buildings. The original Victorian building has been regenerated and an L shaped glass extension has been added to house a restaurant. There are many distinct architectural features to the property, including “brick stitches” and sleek polished steel columns.

Burntwood School in Wandsworth and the Library and teaching building at the University of Greenwich are both representing the education sector. Both show that schools and universities can have stunning designs and still meet the needs of students.

The Peabody affordable housing project in Darbishire Place, London is a great example of everyday architecture. The building is understated but can be celebrated for that exact reason. It caters to the needs of residents without relying on extensive, costly decorations or gimmicks.

NEO Bankside, Southwark is the most expensive property in the running, priced at £140 million. The price tag sets the building apart from the others, particularly because they are all either low or very-low cost buildings. Nonetheless, it is built with excellent materials and finished to a superb standard.

It will be interesting to see which building wins the award; as all these properties are so different from each other, the result will clearly show the reasoning the judges used. Whatever the result, the fact that five of the six properties don’t have a huge price tag is a great result. This will undoubtedly have an influence on the design of domestic and commercial architecture in the future.