Highly sustainable and striking building
Hawkins\Brown for University of East Anglia
Contract value: £12m
GIA: 4,465 m²
This new building provides a striking and very different aesthetic for clinical and research facilities, while continuing UEA’s history of sustainable low energy projects.
External cladding of western red cedar means the building gives a softer impression than many similar biomedical facilities and the acoustic damping it provides further enhances the courtyard as a place for relaxation.
Visitors, of which there are many, will easily understand its main components, with the atrium acting as the fulcrum between the high specification laboratories and the office and write up spaces.
A modest budget for the project is visible only in the bottom line. Limitations on budget and programme, and two stage design and build, have not restricted the high technical content of the brief or the expressive form. The architect has delivered a highly sustainable and striking building that has transformed the client’s mode of operation in a most positive way.
See other winners in the RIBA Regional Awards – East