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The award of the Stirling Prize to Zaha Hadid鈥檚 Evelyn Grace Academy in south London has been branded 鈥減olitically dumb鈥� by a former president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

George Ferguson, who led the RIBA between 2003-5, said he was 鈥渁ngry鈥� at the decision to award the prize to a school for the first time, at a time when spending on school architecture has come under heavy fire from the Conservative-led government.

At 拢3,300 per sq m, the 拢36.5m Evelyn Grace Academy is almost 40% more expensive per sq m than the average cost of a secondary school (拢2,050), according to research by the James Review.

Ferguson said: 鈥淸The project] shows you can build a very good school with a lot of money which is not very politically astute at the moment.鈥�

The former Stirling Prize chair also accused the judges of succumbing to 鈥渟tar worshipping鈥� and called for the judging process to be 鈥渂roadened out鈥�.

He also accused the judges of 鈥渁rrogance鈥� and of ignoring public opinion, after Hadid鈥檚 project trumped long-standing bookies鈥� favourite the London 2012 Velodrome by Hopkins Architects, although he said he personally didn鈥檛 have a single preference as to the winner.

He added he believed the winning scheme was the worst winner for a decade, when Wilkinson Eyre鈥檚 Magna Centre in Rotherham won the award 鈥� which was also the venue for this year鈥檚 award ceremony.

鈥淭here are 100 schools that you could show in the UK that do as good or a better job,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he time for this big ego flash expensive architecture is over.鈥�

Robin Nicholson, a senior partner at Edward Cullen Architects and a former Cabe commissioner, also questioned RIBA鈥檚 judgment. 鈥淐learly as a profession we have got to do a lot more with less, so to honour such an expensive school at this time is a strange decision.鈥�

But some architects welcomed the decision and claimed it was right for the RIBA to promote school architecture.

Ken Shuttleworth, founder of Make Architects, said: 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a great decision and great at a time when Gove is attacking schools.鈥�

Paul Monaghan, a partner at AHMM, the practice behind the 2008 Stirling Prize shortlisted Westminster Academy, rejected the suggestion the judges had allowed politics to influence their decision.

鈥淚鈥檓 familiar with the processes and I鈥檓 sure there鈥檒l be no political pressure whatsoever. I鈥檓 really pleased a school鈥檚 won the Stirling Prize - this amplifies the message that school design is important.鈥�

The RIBA defended the choice. RIBA鈥檚 head of awards, Tony Chapman, said: 鈥淭he Stirling judges all agreed that the Evelyn Grace Academy had done most for the evolution of British architecture and the built environment in 2011. The Evelyn Grace Academy certainly did not win for political reasons 鈥� unless it is political to say that kids deserve the best.鈥�

Academy is run by ARK (Absolute Return for Kids) Academy organisation, a charity set up by hedge-fund multimillionaire Arpad 鈥淎rki鈥� Busson. ARK aims to offer opportunities to local children in inner cities in order to close the achievement gap between children from disadvantaged and more affluent backgrounds.