Projects from as far afield as Ireland, Germany and Sri Lanka are also on the shortlist for the prize which is given to the best project completed overseas by a RIBA member.
But it is the Olympics that dominate. Herzog & de Meuron's Bird's Nest stadium, PTW Architects and Arup's Water Cube aquatics centre and Foster & Partners' Terminal 3 at Beijing airport are predicted to have a strong chance of winning the prize which is announced on July 14.
Also on the shortlist are O'Donnell and Tuomey's Sean O'Casey Community Centre in Dublin, Sauerbruch Hutton's Museum Brandhorst in Munich and the British High Commission building in Colombo, Sri Lanka, designed by Richard Murphy Architects.
'The RIBA Lubetkin prize has been building up in its first four years towards the extraordinary shortlist we see today. Contenders for the 2009 prize include some of the biggest projects in the world,' said Sunand Prasad, RIBA president.
Prasad added that it was good to see a considerable British contribution in such schemes which included some beautifully crafted and lower cost schemes of an equal architectural ambition to the larger projects.
The six shortlisted buildings have been visited by Prasad, Paul Monaghan, chair of RIBA Awards Group and Tony Chapman, RIBA Head of Awards. They will report to the full jury.
The prize is named in honour of the Georgia-born architect Berthold Lubetkin, who worked in Paris before coming to London in the 1930s to establish the influential Tecton Group. Lubetkin's daughter Sasha will present the winner of the Lubetkin Prize with a unique bronze plaque, based loosely on Lubetkin's design for the Penguin Pool at London Zoo.
Previous winners include Casa Kike in Costa Rica, designed by Gianni Botsford Architects, and Grimshaw's Southern Cross station in Melbourne, Australia.
