Zaha Hadid Architects have picked up the RIBA Stirling Prize 2010 for the design of MAXXI, the National Museum of XXI Century Arts in Rome, Italy.

The contemporary art museum held off competition from five rival shortlisted entries, which included Oxford's Ashmolean Museum - designed by Rick Mather Architects. Opened in November 2009, the €150m (£130m, US$205m) MAXXI building covers 21,200sq m (228,195sq ft) of internal floor space and contains a wide range of 21st century artworks.

The museum is the fourth project to earn Zaha Hadid Architects a place on the Stirling Prize shortlist, although it is the first time that the design firm has been awarded the accolade. Speaking on the design of MAXXI, the Stirling Prize judges said: "MAXXI is described as a building for the staging of art, and while provocative at many levels, this project shows a calmness that belies the complexities of its form and organisation.

"This is a mature piece of architecture, the distillation of years of experimentation, only a fraction of which ever got built. It is the quintessence of Zaha's constant attempt to create a landscape as a series of cavernous spaces drawn with a free, roving line." Other shortlisted entries included Bateman's Row, London (Theis and Khan), Clapham Manor Primary School, London (dRMM) and Christ's College School, Guildford (DSDHA).

Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany (David Chipperfield Architects with Julian Harrap Architects) was also in contention for the prize, designed to celebrate the best in design by a UK-based practice. Image: MAXXI by Zaha Hadid Architects – Iwan Baan