Three Scottish buildings named among UK’s best

The Riverside Campus at City of Glasgow College (RIBA/Keith Hunter)
The Riverside Campus at City of Glasgow College (RIBA/Keith Hunter)

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has revealed that three Scottish projects are in the running to be named the UK’s best new building of the year.

The City of Glasgow College’s Riverside Campus, the Saunders Centre at The Glasgow Academy and Murphy House in Edinburgh’s Hart Street are among 46 buildings from across the UK recognised with a RIBA National Award.

The shortlist for the coveted RIBA Stirling Prize for the UK’s best building of the year will be drawn from the 46 award-winning buildings.



The Riverside Campus was designed in a joint venture between Michael Laird Architects and Reiach and Hall Architects and is the result of a combination of ideas about the city and the student experience.

RIBA said: “Located at the edge of a major crossing of the River Clyde, the site marks a gateway in the city and projects the College’s importance as a civic institution as well as creating a new memorable landmark on the Glasgow skyline.

“The new buildings are organized around two new civic spaces – a cloistered garden and a grand hall. These convivial, social spaces, encourage students to mix and realize opportunities for blended learning across disciplines, whilst truly engaging in the culture and dynamics of the city.”

Glasgow's Saunders Centre (RIBA/Andrew Lee)
Glasgow’s Saunders Centre (RIBA/Andrew Lee)



Page/Park Architects’ Saunders Centre facility at the Glasgow Academy includes a new 178-seat auditorium, complemented by a generous foyer that wraps around the sculptural elliptical form. On each upper floor, four general teaching labs, together with a sixth year lab, are arranged along a glazed break out and bay-windowed passage overlooking the historic main school.

The project, situated in a sensitive conservation area, required careful negotiation with both the local authority and residents through the process.

Murphy House in Edinburgh (RIBA/Keith Hunter)
Murphy House in Edinburgh (RIBA/Keith Hunter)

RIBA described Murphy House as “a rare example” of construction of a contemporary house within the World Heritage Site of the New Town of Edinburgh. Designed by Richard Murphy for his own use, the house is consequently something of an architectural and environmental experiment.



“It is an essay in how contemporary design might contribute to a historic and particular place in the New Town,” RIBA added.

The project also joins the contemporary Zinc-House near Monikie in Angus in the shortlist for the 2016 RIBA House of the Year Award, the UK’s most prestigious award for a new house or extension.

A collection of abandoned farm sheds on the site provided the inspiration for the built form. The house is articulated and unified by a continuous roof. Built over one-and-a-half storeys the whole is divided into four tied elements - car port, garage/office, entrance/court, and house.
Zinc House

Zinc House, designed by LJR+H Chartered Architects, was inspired by a collection of abandoned farm sheds on the site. The house is articulated and unified by a continuous roof. Built over one-and-a-half storeys, the house is comprised of four tied elements – carport, garage/office, entrance/court, and house.



Other National Award winners include a children’s hospital in Liverpool with a striking, undulating grass roof (Alder Hey Children’s Hospital), a development of 76 new homes in pastoral Essex that challenges the blight of uninspiring new housing estates by incorporating the character and pattern of the local town (The Avenue), a beautifully-detailed motorway services in the Cotswolds that offers tired motorists a tranquil respite (Gloucester Services), a new shimmering stainless steel library at an Oxford college by the late Zaha Hadid’s firm; and the classy and elegant transformation of a failing secondary and special needs school in south London (ARK All Saints Academy and Highshore School) by the architects of last year’s RIBA Stirling Prize winner.

RIBA said the winners showcased the best of contemporary architecture.

RIBA president Jane Duncan said: “They show that budget, location or many other challenges are no constraints to the production of superb quality architecture as long as you have the commitment of an imaginative and capable architect working with a great client.”

Ms Duncan added: “The RIBA National Awards are a great indicator of UK design, economic and construction trends.

“One stand-out trend from this year’s crop of winners is the huge scale of investment and ambition shown by many of the UK’s universities and colleges.

“As universities and colleges in the UK are competing for students from here and overseas, it is encouraging to see so much emphasis placed on the power of architecture to help institutions to attract students and stand out from the mediocre.

“I am delighted to see that four fantastic school buildings have made the grade too.

“Too many of our school and education buildings are in disrepair; with limited funding available to provide our children and their teachers with great learning spaces, every penny spent on schools must deliver maximum value for money.

“These 46 buildings are what the best architecture looks like today.”

The winners of the 2016 RIBA National Awards are:

Winning Project

Architect

Area

Typology

1

51 Hills Road

Gort Scott Ltd

Cambridge

Office, commercial

2

61 Oxford Street

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

Soho, London

Mixed use – retail, office and multi-dwelling residential

3

8 St James’s Square

Eric Parry Architects

City of Westminster, London

Office, commercial

4

A Private House in Cumbria

Bennetts Associates

Cumbria

Single dwelling, residential

5

A Private House in Northamptonshire

James Gorst Architects Limited

Northamptonshire

Single dwelling, residential

6

Alder Hey Children’s Hospital

BDP

Liverpool

Hospital, healthcare

7

ARK All Saints Academy and Highshore School

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

Camberwell, London

Mixed, non-selective secondary school, education

8

Banbridge Health and Care Centre

Kennedy FitzGerald Architects

Banbridge, County Down

Healthcare, community

9

Blavatnik School of Government

Herzog & de Meuron

Oxford

University, education

10

Bob Champion Research and Education Building

Hawkins\Brown

Norwich

University, education

11

City of Glasgow College, Riverside Campus 

Michael Laird Architects/Reiach and Hall Architects

Glasgow

Further education college, education

12

Corner House

DSDHA

Fitzrovia, London

Multi-dwelling, residential

13

Davenies School

DSDHA

Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire

Independent day school, education

14

Derry Avenue

Bell Phillips Architects

South Ockendon, Essex

Multi-dwelling, residential

15

Drawing Studio

CRAB studio (Cook Robotham Architectural Bureau Limited)

Poole, Dorset

University, education

16

Ely Court

Alison Brooks Architects Ltd

South Kilburn, London

Multi-dwelling, residential

17

Essex University - Albert Sloman Library and Silberrad Student Centre

Patel Taylor

Colchester

University, education

18

Gloucester Services

Glenn Howells Architects

Gloucester

Retail, commercial

19

Greenwich Gateway Pavilions

Marks Barfield Architects

Greenwich, London

Gallery, bistro, café, commercial and community

20

Greenwich Housing

Bell Phillips Architects

Greenwich, London

Council houses, Multi-dwelling, residential

21

Heart of Campus, Nottingham Trent University

Evans Vettori

Nottingham

University , education

22

Hebburn Central

FaulknerBrowns Architects

Hebburn, Tyne and Wear

Leisure, communityLibrary, education

23

HOME

Mecanoo

Manchester

Gallery, cinema, theatre, cultural

24

House of Trace

Tsuruta Architects

Lewisham, London

Single dwelling, residential

25

Laidlaw Library, University of Leeds

ADP LLP

Leeds

University, education

26

Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute

Allies and Morrison

Denmark Hill, London

University, education

27

Murphy House Edinburgh, Scotland

Richard Murphy Architects

Edinburgh

Single dwelling, residential

28

National Graphene Institute

Jestico + Whiles

Manchester

University education

29

New QEII Hospital

Penoyre & Prasad LLP

Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire

Hospital, healthcare

30

Newport Street Gallery

Caruso St John Architects

Vauxhall, London

Gallery, cultural

31

Outhouse

Loyn & Co Architects

Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire

Single dwelling, residential

32

Regent High School,

Walters & Cohen Architects

Somers Town, London

Co-educational comprehensive secondary education

33

Royal Road

Panter Hudspith Architects

Elephant & Castle, London

Multi-dwelling, residential

34

Saunders Centre, Science & Technology Building

Page \ Park Architects

Glasgow

Independent private school, education

35

Sir John Soane Museum

Julian Harrap Architects LLP

Holborn, London

Museum, cultural

36

Stanbrook Abbey

Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios

York

Convent, religious

37

The Avenue

Pollard Thomas Edwards

Saffron Walden, Essex

Multi-dwelling, residential

38

The Cheeran House

john pardey architects

Reading, Berkshire

Single dwelling, residential

39

The Investcorp Building

Zaha Hadid Architects

Oxford

University, education

40

The Portland Collection

Hugh Broughton Architects

Worksop, Nottinghamshire

Gallery, cultural

41

Trafalgar Place

dRMM Architects

Elephant & Castle, London

Multi-dwelling, residential

42

Turnmill

Piercy&Company

Clerkenwell, London

Office, commercial

43

Weston Library

WilkinsonEyre

Oxford

University, education

44

Wilton’s Music Hall

Tim Ronalds Architects

Wapping, London

Theatre, venue, cultural

45

Wirral Metropolitan College

Glenn Howells Architects

Wallasey, Merseyside

Further education college, education

46

York Art Gallery

Ushida Findlay Simpson Brown

York

Gallery, cultural

 

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