The winners have been announced in the 2023 Architecture Today Awards for buildings that stand the test of time.
The winners of the Architecture Today Awards for buildings that stand the test of time were announced on Thursday 23 November 2023 at a party at Tower Hamlets Town Hall, recently created out of the former London Royal Hospital by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris.
The Architecture Today Awards, sponsored by Amtico, Brick Development Association, Leviat, SIG Design & Technology and VMZINC, represent a cultural shift away from celebrating newness and towards a focus on longevity. In stark contrast to most awards programmes, the Architecture Today Awards has only considered projects that have been in use for at least three years and which can demonstrate a strong track record for delivering on their environmental, functional, community and cultural ambitions.
Awards – fabricated by VMZINC – were given out in ten categories: Workplace; Mixed Use & Retail; Healthcare; Residential; Individual House; Religion & Culture; Education; Hospitality & Leisure; Infrastructure & Public realm; International, as well as the Editor’s Award for Research and Shared Learning and the inaugural Student Prize, sponsored by VMZINC.
Winning projects
Education – winner
Project: Burntwood School
Architect: Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
Completed: 2014
Photo: Timothy Soar
The judges said:
“ What made Burntwood School the winner, after much deliberation, was the way it built boldly and skilfully on a campus that represented Modernism at its best, with an ambition that has become a rarity in school buildings. Eight years after completion, the client’s and architect’s faith in continuing this legacy and reinterpreting it for the 21st century has very much stood the test of time.”
Healthcare – winner
Project: Rushton Street Surgery
Architect: Perkins&Will, formerly Penoyre & Prasad
Completed: 1997
Photo: Sunand Prasad
The judges said:
“An astoundingly prescient project. The architect and client really understood the future needs of healthcare facilities, and the building has proved highly adaptable and amenable to the requirements of healthcare professionals and patients alike. Beautiful, humble and egalitarian, the passion behind this project really shines through.”
Hospitality & Leisure – winner
Project: The Macallan Distillery
Architect: RSHP
Completed: 2018
Photo: Joas Souza
The judges said:
“An epic creation of cathedral-like proportions that somehow manages to site unobtrusively in its landscape. Part factory, part tourist attraction, this complex brief has been delivered with an intuitive, almost childlike, simplicity that belies the complexity of the brief – and anticipates future change.”
Infrastructure & Public Realm – winner
Project: Gasholder Park
Architect: Bell Phillips Architects
Completed: 2015
Photo: John Sturrock
The judges said:
“This is a fabulous project that celebrates the architecture of the historic gasholder without overwhelming it, and avoids the trap of over-programming public space.”
Mixed Use & Retail – winner
Project: The Canal Building
Architect: Child Graddon Lewis
Completed: 2000
Photo: Alan Williams
Judges comments:
“In the 1990s, against advice, the architect’s youthful clients bought a derelict Art Deco warehouse in a run-down part of town, and transformed it into shell apartments, live/work units and commercial space. A building was saved, social regeneration kick-started, and the Canal Building remains loved by the several remaining original inhabitants and new occupiers alike. This is a gamble that paid off.”
Mixed Use & Retail – special commendation
Project: East Ham Civic Campus
Architect: MICA Architects
Completed: 2014 (CSC+L) 2014 (Newham Sixth Form) 2016 (Town Hall Refurbishment)
Photo: Philip Vile
The judges said:
“Now ten years old, East Ham Civic Campus is a conspicuous civic success story that has breathed new life into the town centre. A carefeul blend of conservation and new-build has created a confident bit of place-making that will make the borough proud for generations to come.”
Religion & Culture – joint winner
Project: TNG Youth & Community Centre
Architect: RCKa
Completed: 2013
Photo: Jakob Spriesterbach
Judges comments:
“This incredible project has enabled and empowered local people as well as the wider community. In the decade since its completion, it has clearly transformed the lives of those associated with it. As a test of time, this achievement will be felt for at least as long as the building itself.”
Religion & Culture – joint winner
Project: The Ashmolean
Architect: MICA Architects
Completed: 1999, 2009, 2011 and 2013
Photo: Andy Matthews
The judges said:
“The Ashmolean is an assured cultural building that is beautifully executed and, thanks to the careful custodianship of the design team and its client, seems as immaculate today as it was on completion.”
Residential – winner
Project: Park Hill
Architect: Hawkins\Brown and Studio Egret West
Completed:2013
Photo: Jack Hobhouse
Judges comments:
“Built by Sheffield Council’s architects department in 1961, Park Hill’s New Brutalism was synonymous with Labour’s commitment to social change. The skilful reimagining of this building has turned it from an intransigent relic of times gone by, to a contemporary, vibrant ‘work in progress’ that will continue to evolve.”
Workplace – winner
Project: Talkback offices, now The Mandrake Hotel
Architect: HenleyHalebrown and Manalo & White
Completed: 2001 (Talkback); 2017 (The Mandrake Hotel)
Photo: Nick Kane
The judges said:
“This is a project that has adapted, chameleon-like, to changes in use; most recently from production studios to boutique hotel. More astonishing still, each of these incarnations appears to have been carried off with effortless aplomb.”
Workplace – special commendation
Project: SIA House
Architect: Sansome Hall Architects
Completed: 2005
Photo: Sansome Hall Architects
The judges said:
“Thoughtful, modest, progressive for its time, this unassuming building has been loved by its occupiers for 18 years, and is an exemplar of universally accessible design.”
Individual House – winner
Project: Westlake Brake
Architect: David Sheppard Architects
Completed: 1997
Photo: David Sheppard
The judges said:
“This house is built from the land on which it sits, using extracted clay soil to create walls of rammed earth. A triumphant expression of a construction method that is simultaneously ancient and primitive, and refreshingly new.”
International – winner
Project: Umoja House
Architect: The Manser Practice
Completed: 2004
Photo: Peter Cook
The judges said:
“This multi-embassy project required consensus from multiple countries, each with very different agendas, sensitivities and ideas. The fact that it emerged as a striking, coherent symbol of international collaboration is something of a miracle. One can only begin to imagine the levels of diplomacy required.”
Editor’s Award for research and shared learning – winner
Project: 80% House
Architect: Prewett Bizley Architects
Completed: 2010
Photo: Killian O’Sullivan
The judges said:
“Commissioned at a time when the Kyoto protocol suggested that an 80 per cent carbon reduction was needed ‘across the board’, this project set out to upgrade the environmental performance of an 1860 terraced house. We applaud the clarity of its purpose, but also the commitment to on-going post-occupancy evaluation and to sharing lessons learnt. This is one heritage project that got its priorities absolutely right.”
Student Prize – winner
Project: Re-housing Manchester – The Carbon Conscious Collective
Architect: Alexandra Frances and Elle Thompson from the University of Sheffield
The judges said:
“We were bowled over by the deft interweaving of an ambitious social agenda and a sophisticated understanding of the practicalities of construction. A serious project, executed with the playfulness and ingenuity we expect – and need – from the emerging generation of practitioners.”
Read about Re-housing Manchester – The Carbon Conscious Collective
