The shortlist for the RIBA Stirling Prize was announced today and David Chipperfield and Zaha Hadid are the front runners with a shortlist made up of three museums two schools and a private house.

The careful and painstaking restoration project of the Neues museum in Berlin by Chipperfield received much critical praise but Zaha Hadid is the favourite with her remarkable MAXXI museum in Rome opening at the end last year after 12 years of work.

Two schools by London offices have been recognized by the jury, one a sparkling green and blue clad new primary school in south London by dRMM noted for its strategic internal organization that eliminates corridors, the other a bluey brick extension to Christs College School in Guildford by DSDHA. The extention to Ashmolean museum in Oxford by minimalist architect Rick Mathers and a house in Shoreditch by Theis and Kahn form the shortlist for the £20,000 prize.

Ruth Reed, RIBA President, reflected on the quality of public buildings on the shortlist and noted "They are the fruits of the economic boom of the last decade and sadly may represent the end of an era." The inclusion of two schools is also particularly poignant in Britain as the new government recently announced it will all but eliminate any further investment into new school buildings, says Reed. "With the programme to improve our extremely poor school estate now much reduced – it could be some time before we see such exemplar school buildings on the Stirling shortlist again." Beatrice Galilee

The full list:
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford by Rick Mather Architects
Bateman's Row, London by Theis and Khan
Christ's College School, Guildford by DSDHA
Clapham Manor Primary School, London by dRMM
MAXXI, National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Rome by Zaha Hadid Architects
Neues Museum, Berlin by David Chipperfield Architects with Julian Harrap Architects