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NEWS


5


© Ed Reeve STIRLING PRIZE


Grafton Architects’ Kingston University hybrid building wins Stirling Prize


What the RIBA called a “progressive new model for the design of higher education buildings” by Grafton Architects at Kingston University has been awarded the Stirling Prize for 2021. The Town House project is a more dynamic approach to university library spaces, which better integrates the university with the town. It combines a library with a contemporary performance space and public circulation areas, and also creates a new ‘face’ for the university. RIBA said the project “expertly captures the spirit of learning and the value of community cohesion,” adding “Grafton Architects have designed a purposefully democratic and open space, as its name suggests. The building sends an important message to students, educators and the local community, that this is a place where everyone is welcome and valued.” Grafton Architects commented on the


project: “We imagined a place where students would feel at home. This building


is about people, interaction, light, possibilities. It is about connecting to the community, the passer-by, an invitation to cross the threshold; a three-dimensional framework with layers of silence and layers of sound.”


Set back from the street, the concrete form includes a 200 metre, six-storey colonnade, with terraces and gardens above creating “shelves of connected public space.” The facades are open at lower levels, “revealing views to the passer-by of the engaging activities taking place inside.” Internally, there’s a ‘public forum,’ leading to an ‘amphitheatre,’ and voids and staircases above lead to social and study spaces. RIBA said: “Exemplary acoustic design enables the bustling public forum, quiet library, archive, dance studio and theatre to co-exist, and enrich the experience of the users.” The generous volumes enable “people, light and air to flow naturally through the building,” and the “thermally-activated” concrete frame reduces operational energy


use. The building is also designed to be highly adaptable for future possible needs. Speaking on behalf of the 2021 RIBA Stirling Prize jury, Lord Norman Foster, said: “Kingston University Town House is a theatre for life – a warehouse of ideas. In this highly original work of architecture, quiet reading, loud performance, research and learning, can delightfully co-exist. That is no mean feat.”


Kingston University vice-chancellor, Professor Steven Spier, commented: “We had an incredibly ambitious brief – to create a space for students that would allow them to benefit from knowing each other, a library to inspire learning, dance studios, and a softening of the threshold between gown and town.” Grafton Architects triumphed over a prestigious shortlist including Marks Barfield Architects, Stanton Williams, Groupwork, Ney & Partners and William Matthews Associates, and Carmody Groarke. It is the Dublin-based practice’s first built project in the UK.


ADF NOVEMBER 2021 WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK


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