2nd Floor, 101 Redchurch Street, London E2 7DL
New Centre for Architecture
London - third prize
Asked to design a home for architecture, we proposed a generous building. Generous to inhabitants and passers-by, present and future, human, bird or beast. A polycarbonate façade, printed gold, offers value without preciousness. Robust trinket against giant neighbours, the centre glimmers by day, glows by night. Filling the site to the maximum, the building is flexible in its specificity, suggestive of future uses and tenants. Warehouse-like galleries are perfect for knocking about. Ripe for re-interpretation. There are many ways in, up and around, and things to discover, from taps to bat-holes. Outside, an observation stair climbs a polypod-sprinkled rubber cliff to a public roof. Inside, a ‘palace route’ winds through the warehouse, its nooks offering space for contemplation, intimacy, and window seats. An everyday icon, the building says ‘Touch. Don’t Look’.