AHR responds to a complex brief with a quiet legibility that has helped win it South West & Wessex Regional Project Architect of the Year
South West RIBA Regional Award 2022
AHR for University of the West of England (UWE)
Contract value: Confidential
GIA: 8,500 m²
A complex brief draws together many previously disparate engineering disciplines. The efficient plan brings performance benefits and a new identity within the campus. It has a generous civic presence thanks to the inset entrances, exaggerated loggia and views into the workshops.
Finishes are durable and the building is set out on a 1m structural grid with cores around the atrium perimeter allowing flexibility and adaption for the 4,000 users. The layout reflects the pedagogical and philosophical drivers, engendering collaboration, broadening access to engineering and promoting inclusivity.
The whole building can be read from the atrium with direct views into the heavy workshops, a ‘maker space’, specialist laboratories, teaching and breakout spaces. The project’s success is in the quiet, architecture, legibility and connection to learning and research, resulting in a bustling environment full of inspiration from the activities within.
South West & Wessex Regional Award 2022
South West & Wessex Regional Project Architect of the Year 2022
See the rest of the South West and Wessex winners here
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