Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The Accordia housing project in Cambridge, England, was the surprise winner of the international RIBA Stirling Prize for architecture announced tonight.

The low-rise houses, which made headlines when they faced protests from local residents, beat other buildings such as Zaha Hadid's acclaimed ski-lift stations near Innsbruck in Austria and the new Westminster Academy in London.

``This is architecture that treats adults as grown-ups and children as people,'' the judges said of the Accordia project, giving it the 20,000 pound ($34,080) prize, at a ceremony in Liverpool.

Accordia involved three firms of architects and designers: Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Alison Brooks Architects and Macreanor Lavington.

The Royal Institute of British Architects award was open to buildings anywhere in the European Union.

(Mark Beech writes for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer on the story: Mark Beech in London at mbeech@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 11, 2008 16:10 EDT