AYA 2024 shortlists: Office Architect of the Year

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 category of Office Architect of the Year.

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

Variety and identity are key to the success of an office building according to the practice, which describes itself as designing ‘distinctive buildings of economy, elegance, and delight’. Its entry includes 1 New Park Square, which creates the backdrop to a new civic square at Edinburgh Park, and Soho Place, a development of two new buildings and a civic plaza on London’s Oxford Street for Derwent London.

dMFK Architects

Four London retrofits comprise the entry from dMFK Architects. In Chiswick, the practice has restored the Grade II* listed, Arts & Crafts Voysey House for Dorrington. The 1950s Chancery House has been retrofitted into an amenity-packed workplace for Fora, while 45 Whitfield Street delivers flexible offices in a 1970s building in Fitzrovia. The entry is completed by the practice’s own offices at 76 Charlotte Street, designed to attract staff back after the pandemic.

Fletcher Priest Architects

Situated behind the famous lights at Piccadilly Circus, the Lucent project for Landsec unifies 13 buildings to create new workspace interspersed with 22 terraces and gardens. Three ongoing projects include the deep retrofit of One Exchange Square, the part-refurbishment, part-new build of 55 Old Broad Street - both in London - and the new innovation district of Oxford North for a leading research institution.

LOM architecture and design

Two completed buildings demonstrate very different scales of new build. Unity Place in Milton Keynes is a £150 million head office campus for Santander UK for up to 6,000 staff, and also incorporates mixed use public facilities. In contrast, Barn X for Rare Games provides collaborative, biophilic workspace for games developers in a rural campus setting. In Glasgow, LOM is refurbishing 301 St Vincent Street, a monumental 1980s landmark in the city.

Lynch Architects

Lynch’s entry includes two projects for Landsec at London’s Victoria, the latest in a relationship dating back 18 years. N2 is a fully-let, 18 storey office building rated BREEAM Outstanding and WELL Core Gold. Due for completion in 2028, n3 involves the creative re-construction of a listed building. In Islington, the proposed Mercers Road corner development features a CLT structure clad with GRC panels and metal-framed windows.

Morris+Company

Two completed London projects are included in this submission - the new build, 10-storey One Wood Crescent within the BBC Television Centre redevelopment and Norton Folgate, which combines the restoration of historic townhouses with a contemporary new build on the City of London fringe. The entry also includes the proposed Castle & Fitzroy development in Islington and a life science-led office building in Boston, USA, both estimated to complete in 2028.

Orms Architects

The Burlian is a deep retrofit and extension of a 1970s, 6-storey, concrete framed building in London’s West End. The project retained 75% of the original building, creating high-end offices over retail. 101 Moorgate is nearing completion in the City of London, deploying prefabrication in an accelerated construction programme above operational railways. Two proposed projects, 2 Waterhouse Square in Holborn and 75 London Wall complete the entry.

Sheppard Robson

Re-use office projects now outnumber new builds at Sheppard Robson. The practice’s entry includes two contrasting examples – the revival of the Grade II listed Pall Mall court in Manchester, and 68-86 Farringdon Road, which re-uses foundations and basements. The submission also features Ev0, an ongoing £31million new build for Bruntwood Works in Manchester, and TTP Campus in Cambridgeshire, which explores a new relationship between office and lab.