Hat-trick for Cambridge Central Mosque
Cambridge Central Mosque by Marks Barfield Architects has scored a hat-trick in the regional RIBA awards.
The building, one of David Marks’ last projects, was named building of the year by RIBA East as well as picking up the Client of the Year award and Project Architect which went to Matthew Wingrove.
RIBA East, North East and South West are the latest English regions to declare their winners, all of which will now go forward to the national awards – which would give them a shot at Stirling Prize glory.
The South West Building of the Year went to Alison Brooks Architects for a £1.95m extension to an 18th-century farmhouse in Lydney, the highest point in Gloucestershire. It is part of a 10-year project to turn Windward House into a home and gallery of Indian and African sculpture.
The judges said: “The extension, larger than the original house but clearly subordinate to it, contains a luminous interior. The architect’s distinctive skewed geometries make an architecture of shifted planes in plan, section and elevation. This gives rise to an extraordinarily complex and fully resolved play of solids and voids, and a sense of openness, with carefully considered views in all directions. And yet, underlying the elasticity of the architecture is a strong spatial ordering: the sidelong homage to Mies van der Rohe in the form of delightfully light cruciform steel columns (skewed, of course) is well-founded. As importantly, this carefully calibrated geometrical warping creates a relaxed ambience entirely in tune with the spirit of the project and the place.”
The building of the year trophy in the North East went to Group Ginger’s repurposing of Hartlepool’s northern renaissance-style grade II-listed post office into creative workspace.
To create BIS Whitby Street Studios, the practice added a large gold extension, with the judges praising the composition of volumes between old and new as “well judged”. They added: “Colour is central to the project and is handled with expert precision; there could have been a danger of sensory overload with colour, texture, exposed services and cellular office spaces, but the balance has been tuned to create a series of interconnected spaces which seem to perfectly reflect the creativity of the occupants.”
Latest English regional award winners
East
Jury chair: Luke Tozer
RIBA East Building of the Year: Cambridge Central Mosque by Marks Barfield Architects
Other RIBA East Award-winning projects:
Cambridgeshire
• Cambridge Central Mosque, by Marks Barfield Architects, London
• Imperial War Museums Paper Store, Duxford, by Architype, London
• Key Worker Housing, Eddington, by Stanton Williams, London
• Private House, Cambridge, by NRAP Architects, Cambridge
• Royal Papworth Hospital, Addenbrookes, by HOK International, London
• Simple House, Cambridge, by Haysom Ward Miller, Cambridge
• Student Services Centre, University of Cambridge, by Bennetts Associates, London
Hertfordshire
• Private House, Oxhey, by Fletcher Crane Architects, London
• St Albans Cathedral Welcome and Learning Centre, by Simpson and Brown, Edinburgh
• The Byre and the Garrett, Berkhamsted, by Hugo Hardy Architect, Herts
• Woodside Mews, Leavesden, by TAS Architects, Herts
Norfolk
• The Water Tower, Norfolk, by Tonkin Liu, London
Other RIBA East special awards
Client of the Year: The Cambridge Mosque Trust
Project Architect of the Year: Matthew Wingrove, Marks Barfield, for Cambridge Central Mosque
Conservation Award: St Albans Cathedral Welcome and Learning Centre by Simpson & Brown, Edinburgh.
Sustainability Award: Imperial War Museums Paper Store in Duxford, by Architype.
Small Project of the Year: Remodelling and extension of a private house in Cambridge, by NRAP Architects.
South West
Jury chair: Robert Sakula
RIBA South West Building of the Year: Windward House in Gloucestershire by Alison Brooks Architects
Other RIBA South West Award-winning projects:
• Bath Schools of Art & Design, by Grimshaw
• Corten Courtyard House, Bristol by Barefoot Architects
• Kresen Kernow, Cornwall by Purcell
• Redhill Barn, Devon by Type Studio
• The Story of Gardening, Somerset by Stonewood Design with Mark Thomas Architects plus Henry Fagan Engineering
• Malmesbury House, Wiltshire by Prewett Bizley
• Nansledan, Newquay, by Adam Architecture with Purl Design, Yiangou Architects, Francis Roberts Architects, and Alan Leather Associates
• Tintagel Castle Footbridge, Cornwall by Ney & Partners and William Matthews Associates
• Windward House, Gloucestershire by Alison Brooks Architects
RIBA South West special awards
Client of the Year: Emily Estate UK for The Story of Gardening at The Newt in Somerset by Stonewood Design with Mark Thomas Architects and Henry Fagan Engineering.
Sustainability Award: The Story of Gardening at The Newt in Somerset by Stonewood Design with Mark Thomas Architects and Henry Fagan Engineering.
Project Architect of the Year: Martina Goluchova of Barefoot Architects for Corten Courtyard House at Bristol.
Small Project: Corten Courtyard House by Barefoot Architects
Conservation Award: Redhill Barn by Type Studio
North East
Jury chair: Ben Elliott
RIBA North East Building of the Year: The Bis, by Group Ginger
RIBA North East Award-winning projects
• Tombola House, Sunderland by Ryder Architecture
• Lower Mountjoy Teaching Centre, Durham by FaulknerBrowns Architects
• The Beam, Sunderland by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
• The Bis, Hartlepool by Group Ginger
RIBA North East special awards
Client of the Year: Tombola by Ryder Architecture
Project Architect: David Pogson for The Bis by Group Ginger
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