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Richard III Visitor Centre, Leicester

The building tells a story, which has to weave around the existing site, well

Maber for Leicester City Council

Contract value: £4 million

GIA: 1,231m2

This was a once in a lifetime brief – to design the building that respectfully celebrates the burial place of a 500 year old king found in a Leicester car park.

The building tells a story, which has to weave around the existing site, well. Its entrance is subtle and simple in form and yet rich in both its use of materials and its connection between the school and the new Ancaster stone wall that links and screens the entrance with the burial site.

 

  • Credit: Tristan Poyser
  • Credit: Tristan Poyser
  • Credit: Tristan Poyser
  • Credit: Tristan Poyser
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Controlled handling of materials, visual invitations to sit, the focus of the sculptural ceiling of the burial site and discreet views out are enough to guide viewers and help them to understand the space and the archaeology.

With a limited palette of local materials, the Richard III Visitor Centre is a high quality and sensitive addition to the fabric of Leicester, linking its past with its future.

See other winners in the RIBA Regional Awards 2015 – East Midlands

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