A home that was rescued from demolition and a site of a major regeneration programme have won awards for being “outstanding” pieces of architecture.
The awards have been given by RIBA, the Royal Institute of British Architects, as they name “outstanding works of the built environment” for 2024.
The institute has been celebrating architecture for over 180 years and running the awards for 50 years.
It claims that its awards and prizes are “regarded internationally as a mark of excellence”, recognising architecture, architects, research and students.
A spokesperson for RIBA said: “Successful projects reflect changes and innovations in architecture, but at their core display a commitment to designing and developing buildings and spaces for the improvement and enhancement of people’s lives.”
Here are the some of the places awarded in north London:
Hampstead House
The house at Templewood Lane was created by modernist architect Trevor Dannatt in 1960, and was at risk of being demolished.
However it was reimagined by architecture firm Coppin Dockray, who contacted Mr Dannatt about the home for an American client.
A description by the RIBA reads: “Their coherent new interventions and careful conservation demonstrate a real understanding of how to make the most of light and views.
“Poor ground-floor additions have been rationalised to establish the kitchen as the heart of the house, with living rooms to the rear. Above, a new metal-clad extension houses bedrooms. Sustainable through its retention and upgrading of building fabric and services, the house revels in a quiet mastery of its materials palette, both inside and out.”
22 Handyside Street
This three-storey office near King’s Cross station was designed by the Coffey Architects.
The citation reads: “Using a diagonal grid optimised the lightweight concrete and steel structure, whilst improving orientation both for views and heat gain. It also enabled the creation of a sawtooth roofline which not only references the industrial context of King’s Cross, but also creates a natural landmark on this corner site.
“The façades deploy embossed and intricately perforated aluminium panels over a variety of transparent, translucent and solid curtain walls, providing a fascinating interplay of dappled light over the façade and within.”
Brent Cross Town Visitor Pavilion
Work for the Brent Cross Town regeneration is still ongoing and is set to deliver 6,700 new homes, workspaces for 25,000 people, as well as leisure facilities including restaurants and a cinema.
But the first building as part of its redevelopment – the three-storey visitor pavilion – has won an award.
A description reads: “The project creates both private and public spaces for events, exhibitions, show apartments, and offices, which, together with a café, provide a dedicated venue for the local and wider public to learn about the masterplan.
“It is designed as two short two-storey wings acting as galleries off a central double-height space, with a rooftop terrace and further accommodation on part of the third storey. The architects have conceived it with an eye towards sustainability as well as its inevitably changing role over time.”
Unity Place
Unity Place introduced 235 social rent homes as part of the 15-year South Kilburn regeneration programme.
It offers what is described as affordable homes of different sizes, along with a community hub, play space and parking.
A description reads: “Infrastructure constraints and the proximity to conservation areas and listed buildings posed challenges for the design. The architects met these with a varied but unified scheme that reinstates historical street patterns, harmonising high-density housing with the surrounding low- to medium-rise buildings through contextually sympathetic materials.”
Sycamore House
After the sudden death of his wife, architect Jonathan Wilson crafted a two-storey home for himself in Haringey.
A description reads: “A comprehensively rigorous approach to low-energy sustainability has guided every design move. A small oasis in this corner of the city, the house is a simple, calming environment, with a strong inside–outside connection and a piano at its heart.
“It succeeds in effortlessly and elegantly meeting the specific living needs of its owner while serving as a demonstration project for how to go about creating a fully Passivhaus-certified dwelling.”
King’s Cross Masterplan
King’s Cross has had a major redevelopment after it was first granted planning permission in 2006.
The estate includes 100 shops, bars and restaurants and 1,750 homes and 10 public spaces.
It resulted in 50 new buildings.
The RIBA description reads: “From the start, the project team set out their ‘principles for a human city’, based on offering character, variety, choice, and a sense of belonging which can underpin rapidly changing patterns of social and economic behaviour.
"These have been deployed not in a grandiose manner, but through careful understanding and reshaping of found geometries, stitching a previously cut-off part of the city back into the wider urban fabric.
"Excellent buildings by a range of architects characterise the campus, but all in a way that informs and substantiates the critical open spaces and routes which are the project’s true legacy.
Bradbury Works
Hackney Co-operative Developments worked with communities to refurbish 600sq m of existing affordable workspace, extending it by almost 500sq m and creating ten mini-retail units on the ground floor.
A new floor and mezzanine were created on top of the building, with a pitched roof designed to provide the maximum floor area while minimising views from Bradbury Street in the conservation area.
An external terrace lined with picnic tables, ferns, and climbers faces Gillett Square, providing a new social space for tenants.
The citation says: "What the jury liked about this project was both its modesty and its ambition. Using simple materials and methods, an existing building has been judiciously expanded and improved. But the use of the polycarbonate skin – a relatively basic building material – as a way of unifying what could have been
an awkward extension, lifts the whole project.”
Dover Court Estate
The existing estate of 250 homes in Hackney, was criticised as disjointed, and pocked with garages that had become "unsightly and intimidating" as they had fallen out of use, together with a central sunken ball court that had become "an infamous no-go area".
Co-designing with residents, the designers built on the garage
sites to provide all but one of the 58 social rent and 12 private new homes,
while creating a landscape with a "pleasantly overlooked" green lawns.
The citation said: "The design increases public space significantly, offering three character areas of landscaping, a new central green link with seating, shelter, and playable landscapes, and a new square and ball court that replace unsafe and unused areas.
"The jury were impressed with how the scheme re-envisioned what it had with a number of smart moves. The result is a transformation which seems a sleight of hand, and is testimony to both the vision and meticulousness of the design process.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here