Well resolved detailing and careful lining up of fittings and fixtures
Associated Architects LLP for University College Birmingham
Contract value: £17.4m
GIA: 7,027m²
McIntyre House’s teaching and learning space is organised over four levels in a horseshoe plan, with narrow day lit perimeter accommodation enclosing a dramatic central atrium.
This has collaborative spaces, and access to teaching rooms and traditional black box lecture theatres. The massing and envelope treatment relates to the scale and fenestration proportion of its neighbours in the Jewellery Quarter from behind a grand colonnade.
Internally, high quality in-situ concrete is nicely contrasted with well detailed timber cladding that defines the central core, feature stair and lecture theatre. The jury noted the care and attention taken by Associated Architects to ensure well resolved detailing and careful lining up of fittings and fixtures. To achieve this with in-situ concrete, in a design and build contract and a tight budget, is a real achievement.
See other winners of the RIBA Regional Awards 2016 – West Midlands