AYA 2024 shortlists: Higher Education Architect of the Year, sponsored by Carlisle

Earlier this year BD announced all the architects who made it on to the shortlists for our prestigious annual Architect of the Year Awards.

Now we are shining the spotlight on each category in turn and publishing a selection of the images that impressed the judges.

This year’s judges include: Yẹmí Aládérun, head of development, Meridian Water, Enfield Council; Alexandra Andone, associate director, PRP; Amr Assaad, board director, Buckley Gray Yeoman; Lee Bennett, partner, design chair and school lead, Sheppard Robson; Sarah Cary, chief development officer Imperial College, White City Campus; Irene Craik, director, Levitt Bernstein; Alex Ely, founding director, Mae; Martyn Evans, creative director, LandsecU+I; Gavin Hale-Brown, director, Henley Halebrown; Tanvir Hasan, director emeritus, Donald Insall Associates; Lee Higson, board director, Eric Parry Architects; Nigel Hugill, chief executive, Urban & Civic; Kirsten Lees, managing partner, Grimshaw; Oliver Lowrie, director and founder, Ackroyd Lowrie; Anna Mansfield, director, Publica; Michelle McDowell, non-executive director, Civic; Ian McKnight, founding partner, Hall McKnight; John McRae, director and trustee, Orms; David Partridge, chairman, Related Argent; Sarah Robinson, asociate director, The King’s Foundation; Philippa Simpson, director for buildings and renewal, Barbican Centre; Kevin Singh, head, Manchester School of Architecture; Karl Singporewala, founder, Karl Singporewala Design Bureau; Jonathan Smales, founder and CEO, Human Nature; Elizabeth Smith, chairman and regional director, Purcell; Alan Stanton, principal director, Stanton Williams; Amin Taha, chairperson, Groupwork; Magali Thomson, project lead for placemaking, Great Ormond Street Hospital; Tatiana von Preussen, co-founder and director, vPPR; Jo Wright, director, Perkins&Will.

Today’s shortlist is for the Higher Education Architect of the Year, sponsored by Carlisle.

Bond Bryan

Bond Bryan has completed Manchester College, a five storey urban campus that forms a key part of the city council’s skills strategy. The design of the façade references the area’s history of textile manufacturing. At the University of Huddersfield, the 1000sq m two-storey Faith Centre is the first new building at the university to achieve the WELL Building Standard.

Hawkins\Brown

According to the practice, all of its submitted projects are linked by its focus on prioritising the needs of people. In Preston, a new student centre and university square creates connections between the University of Central Lancashire and the surrounding community. Flagship science projects in London and Oxford are designed to bring together diverse disciplines and departments. In Leeds, a new School of Arts creates a dynamic environment on a compact city centre site.

HLM Architects

HLM’s entry includes two net zero carbon in operation and BREEAM Outstanding buildings – the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland at the University of Strathclyde and The Wave, which promotes active learning and collaboration across five departments at University of Sheffield. The submission is completed by the BREEAM Excellent London Institute for Healthcare Engineering, a research and innovation hub at Guys and St Thomas’ hospital for King’s College London.

Jestico + Whiles

Jestico + Whiles has submitted three projects for the University of Cambridge. The Ray Dolby Centre at the Cavendish Laboratory combines laboratories, teaching and collaborative space in the university’s innovation district. The adjacent West Hub provides flexible spaces for study and collaboration as well as a central catering facility. The practice is also working on a decarbonising deep retrofit of University Centre, a grade II listed 1960s building.

Morrison Design Ltd

Four projects for the University of Derby range from a training facility for hospitality students (Harpur’s Bistro) to a nuclear skills training academy (iHub). The practice is currently under construction with Superlab, a new Biomedical Science Super Lab created out of existing office and administration space. It is also working in partnership with Derby City Council on Mobility Zones, conceived as hubs for sustainable travel.

Stride Treglown

Stride Treglown’s entry includes two completed adaptive re-uses of 1960s buildings. The Skills & Simulation Centre at London Metropolitan University and InterCity Place for University of Plymouth both provide bright, immersive teaching environments for innovative health education. Future projects include Passivhaus student residences at the University of the West of England and COMET, which will combine four faculties at the University of South Wales.

TODD Architects

According to the practice, the four diverse submitted projects are linked by an understanding that education environments must be ‘flexible, sustainable, inspiring, supportive, and involving for students, staff, and visitors’. The entry includes student hubs for Queens Business School in Belfast and the London Business School, a reconfiguration of the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin and the proposed Advanced Robotics & Engineering Institute for Bradford College.