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Judges鈥� citations

Barrett鈥檚 Grove, Stoke Newington, London N16

Architect: Groupwork and Amin Taha

Client: Nick Grant

The judges said:

鈥淏arrett鈥檚 Grove is a characterful building in a disjointed urban street. Its adjacency to a primary school is a fitting location for a house built with the fairy-tale materials of brick, wood and straw. Inside, the building holds a series of generously proportioned, well-lit apartments; each with a wicker basket balcony that sticks out proud and far, like a salute to passers-by.

鈥淭he staggered hit-and-miss brick skin of the fa莽ade makes a larger-than-usual pattern, which fits the tallness of the overall building. Wrapping the skin up and over the roof emphasises the simplicity of the building鈥檚 form.

鈥淚nside, the feeling is of a large house split into many homes; a refreshing change from the cheap finishes and convoluted corridors of many apartment blocks.

鈥淭he apartments are double aspect and each room is a good proportion. Space is used wisely and leftover space is exploited, for example a strip of workspace overlooks the living room in the top maisonette making a small strip of space a delight to inhabit.鈥�

Contractor: Ecore Construction

Structural engineers: Webb Yates Engineers

M&E engineers: Syntegra

Quantity surveyor: Amin Taha Architects

Fire engineering: Optimise

Internal area: 635sq m

The British Museum World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre, London WC1

Architect: Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners

Client: The British Museum

The judges said:

鈥淭he WCEC building is located on the north-west corner of the British Museum site in Bloomsbury. It consists of five vertically linked pavilions (one of which is located entirely underground), and houses a new exhibition gallery, laboratories and conservation studios, storage, and facilities to support the museum鈥檚 logistical requirements and loans programme.

鈥淭his building is the realisation of an extremely complicated brief in terms of spatial challenges, technical requirements, and engineering technologies. Its achievement derives from the elegant and simple way these challenges are met, while maintaining a clear and coherent diagram and a refined and rational building enclosure.

鈥淭he spaces provided for exhibition allow objects of a size and height which would not be possible to exhibit elsewhere in the museum. Objects can be delivered at street level in lorries which are then taken to lower floors by a platform lift that sinks into the ground without disturbing the landscape.

鈥淭he jury felt that the substantial accommodation for curation activities, with demanding constraints on direct light, thermal control and pest prevention, are seamlessly threaded into the overriding diagram and structure, with an admirable rigour and clarity.

鈥淕rander public spaces are accommodated in the main museum, while the new extension provides simple circulation through glass lifts, bridges and glazed lobbies, making the journey through the building clean and enjoyable.

鈥淎 system of fritted glazed horizontal panels allows controlled light into the building while ensuring protection for the exhibits either on display or within the workshops. This allows curation of precious artefacts to occur in an environment that maintains access to natural light.

鈥淭he jury appreciated the way the architects had overcome planning and heritage concerns in relation to the building for new offices which are sunk below ground but grouped around an attractive glass-roofed central space.

鈥淕enerally the jury admired the skill and control the architects had demonstrated in realising the client鈥檚 enormously complicated and demanding brief while maintaining a rigorous and disciplined plan and an elegant external cladding system.鈥�

Structural engineers: Ramboll

M&E engineers: Arup

Quantity surveyor: Aecom

Project management: Equals

Acoustic engineers: Arup

Access consultant: David Bonnett Association

Landscape architects: Gillespies

Lighting design: Arup

Planning advisors: The Green Brain Consultancy and Montagu Evans

Construction managers: Mace

Internal area: 18,000sq m

Command of the Oceans, Chatham, Kent

Architect: Baynes and Mitchell Architects

Client: Chatham Historic Dockyard

The judges said:

鈥淭his project is a champion for progressive conservation, inventive re-use and adaptation of existing fabric. The importance of the historic fabric has been clearly understood, which has allowed freedom in other areas to change the circulation and the reading of the buildings to give the whole complex of buildings a new lease of life.

鈥淭he striking new visitor entrance, clad in black zinc, knits together the historic fabric to either side. The decision to use black cladding rather than a white structure which would match existing, and the decision not to mimic the pitch of the existing roofs, was a bold move in conservation terms and very successful. The modest entrance is immediately obvious to the visitor on arrival in the large car park, which sits above the old mast pond; and yet in certain lights it seems to disappear and becomes very much subservient to the adjacent listed structures. This inventive solution to create a raised entrance with associated ramp won Baynes and Mitchell the architectural competition, and unlocks the whole plan.

鈥淭he cathedral-like quality of the entrance hall, with its focus on the end view over the dockyard, is very successful. The museum element of the scheme which tells the history of the dockyard is designed around a route which ultimately leads to the hidden timbers of the unknown ship beneath the floorboards. This sense of discovery and the decision to leave the timbers in situ is a very powerful move.

鈥淭he project is academically rigorous in terms of repairs, reversibility and selection of new materials and is a delightful new addition to the historic dockyard. The project exhibits careful and critical use of appropriate repairs. Successful engagement with specialist craftsmen and sensitive repairs, such as the scarfing of the main timbers in the mast house, adds to the beauty of the refurbished spaces.

鈥淚nternally, the existing buildings were assessed in terms of their significance and this informed the hierarchy and extent of the new interventions. Baynes and Mitchell have also fully engaged with the impact of the proposals in terms of the archaeology of the site and an appropriate means of responding to the concept of 鈥榓s found鈥� presentation.

鈥淭he palette of black metal, blue limestone, board-marked concrete and composite timber has been carefully chosen in response to the strong, industrial language of the historic buildings and landscape.

鈥淭his project has benefited greatly from an enlightened client who is committed to making the story of the dockyard accessible to the visitor. This deep understanding of the historical significance of this group of buildings has been fully understood by the architect and interpreted in a way to reveal significant features of the historic landscape. This is a Heritage Lottery Funded project and Historic England was closely involved in a very collaborative way.鈥�

Contractor: Raymond Brown Construction Limited, Fairhurst Ward Abbotts and WW Martin

Project management: Artelia UK

Quantity surveyor: Robert Dolllin & Co Ltd

M&E engineer: Skelly & Couch

Experiential designer: Land Design Studio

Structural & civil engineers: Price & Myers

Lighting design: Studio ZNA

Conservation consultants: Ptolemy Dean Architect

Access consultant: Ann Sawyer Access Design

Archaeologists: Wessex Archaeology

Internal area: 2,750sq m

City of Glasgow College 鈥� City Campus

Architects: Reiach & Hall Architects and Michael Laird Architects

Client: City of Glasgow College

The judges said:

鈥淭he merger of Glasgow鈥檚 central, metropolitan and nautical colleges created a super college bringing together facilities and teaching previously housed in 11 separate buildings across the city within two new central campuses. City Campus, more than 60,000sq m in size, is the second of these large new buildings. It brings together six major faculties in 300 high-tech classrooms, multi-purpose lecture theatres and specialist teaching facilities.

鈥淲hile the initial impression of this building is as something of immense scale which also signals its presence as an important place of learning, its internal spaces are designed to encourage both the formal teaching processes which it contains and informal, chance encounters. The materials palette and form of the building are deliberately restrained to generate something of skill, clarity and elegance, on the grandest scale.

鈥淭here is an astonishing scale and complexity to the brief for this project and considerable architectural skill is demonstrated in its realisation; not just in resolving the brief, but in the contribution to the city 鈥� in massing, composition and the generosity of the public route through the grand stepped atrium space. This architectural skill extends beyond the cityscape through to the detailed care taken in the organisation of student spaces, encouraging social interaction across disciplines, to the considered approach to materials and detailing.鈥�

Contractor: Sir Robert McAlpine

Structural engineer: Arup

Landscape architect: Rankinfraser landscape architecture

Quality surveyor: Sir Robert McAlpine / Sweet Group

M&E engineer: FES with Hulley and Kirkwood

Acoustics: Arup Acoustics

Fire engineer: Jeremy Gardner Associates

Interiors: Graven

Signage: Studio LR

Hastings Pier, East Sussex

Architect: dRMM

Client: Hastings Pier Charity

The judges said:

鈥淚t has taken a seven-year heroic collaboration to turn a smouldering pier in disrepair and decline into a vibrant public space with a palpable sense of ownership. This collaboration has been between the community, the council, the engineers and the architect and it is the architect鈥檚 vision which has been vital throughout to steer the process. After extensive stakeholder consultation, it was clear to dRMM that the pier would be expected to host many different populist scenarios.

鈥淧redictably enough, it transpired that it had to be everything to everybody, with an absent owner not responding to the increasingly dangerous structure repair requirements, and no rebuild budget available in a run-down seaside town. Lateral thinking was required to make a structurally and socially sustainable project actually happen. The architects had to write the brief and help raise the budget before redesigning the pier.

鈥淭heir 鈥榤aster-move鈥� and response to this brief was to design a strong, community led/owned serviced platform which could accommodate a whole host of uses, from music concerts, to international markets. 鈥業n homage to conceptualist Cedric Price, users bring their own architecture to plug in and play.鈥� This concept is really working in practice and should be commended.

鈥淭he decision not to place any building at the end of the pier, which is possibly the obvious position to site a building, is an extremely powerful move. The large open space provides a sense of calmness and delight, with a strong connection to the sea and the seafront. The experience of free space and 鈥榳alking on water鈥� is heightened by the optics of a very beautiful, louvred balustrade design and quality timber deck.

鈥淭he new visitor centre replacing the weakest section of the damaged pier is a relatively simple CLT structure clad in reclaimed timber which was salvaged from the original fire-damaged pier. This helps to create a strong feeling of place and belonging. It boosts an elevated, rooftop belvedere where locals go for a coffee or cup of soup. It offers adaptable space for events, exhibitions and education. Reclaimed timber deck furniture was designed by dRMM and Hastings & Bexhill Wood Recycling as part of a local employment initiative.

鈥淭he new pier is not a lonely pier: rather, it is extremely welcoming in its design, with free, open entry to the public. It offers flexibility, material and functional sustainability, and an uninterrupted vista of the natural and built surroundings. This is a Heritage Lottery Funded project and it has become a catalyst for urban regeneration.

鈥淔rom a conservation perspective, this project has reinvigorated a fire-damaged historic structure and facilitated a contemporary and appropriate new 21^st-century use. The project has been mindful to integrate material from the original pier in the new design, and the process of restoration was used to help train a new generation of craft specialists.鈥�

Contractor: Hastings Pier Charity

Structural engineer: Ramboll UK

Environmental / M&E engineer: Ramboll UK

Quantity surveyor / Cost consultant: PT Projects

Marine engineers: Ramboll UK

Internal area: 11,720sq m

Photography Studio for Juergen Teller, Ladbroke Grove, W10

Architects: 6a architects

Client: Juergen Teller

The judges said:

鈥淭he project comprises a series of three buildings and gardens to form a new studio, offices and archive for celebrated photographer Juergen Teller. The brief was for a light-filled, flexible, informal and welcoming set of spaces; with a natural flow and sociability.

鈥淭he project expertly exploits a typically London condition. Constrained by a long and narrow industrial plot at the rougher edge of Ladbroke Grove; its only face nestles between cheap developer housing, an industrial estate and the hinterland of the Westway.

鈥淲ith few views possible out of the linear site, daylight is introduced through three courtyard gardens designed by Dan Pearson, and a grid of exquisitely thin concrete beams which march the length of the 60m site. These support north-facing roof lights which fill the space with an extraordinary filtered light.

鈥淏oard-marked poured concrete registers the rhythm of the existing brick-built party walls. Two raked concrete stairs brace the studio space, the only interruptions in an open landscape, which runs the length of the site.

鈥淒etailing throughout is exquisite; from the in-situ concrete of the finely formed stairs, to the seamless brass balustrades. Large but delicately beaded timber window frames add refinement to an otherwise minimal material palette. The building is an exemplar of fabric first and low-energy design. The integration of services is expertly handled.

鈥淭he project is a mature and confident statement of orderliness and precision, while also being relaxed and playful. It forms a refined yet flexible workplace which is already beginning to act as a setting to prompt and influence the work of its client.

鈥淭he building is sublime and the whole team should be highly commended.鈥�

Contractor: Harris Calnan

Structural engineers: Price & Myers

M&E engineers: Max Fordham

Quantity surveyor: Gleeds Cost Management

Landscape architects: Dan Pearson Studio

Project management: Aecom

Internal area: 505sq m