Stanton Williams' New University of the Arts London Campus for Central Saint Martin's at King's Cross was last night awarded the"Building of the Year"prize at the annual AJ 100 Awards in London.
AJ 100 practices were invited to nominate a single project completed in 2010 for the award,and the project to re-house London's Central St Martin's school of art and design faced stiff competition in the category from a shortlist of eight prestigious projects.
Stanton Williams master planned and designed the new 32,000m2 campus,accommodating 5,000 students.The design combines the 19th century Grade II listed Granary building and transit sheds–with a 200 metre long new building that uses industrial materials and creates robust spaces for the students,full of natural light.An internal street draws daylight in and acts as a central circulation spine with suspended walkways,cafes,film,graphic and light projections.
This year's Top 10 practices in the AJ100 comprise many familiar names and one or two new entrants,including(with last year's ranking):
1.Foster+Partners(2)2.BDP(1)3.Capita Symonds Ltd(4)4.Atkins(3)5.Aedas Architects(5)6.Allies and Morrison(10)7.Sheppard Robson(12)8.PRP(6)9.Zaha Hadid Architects(N/A)10.RMJM(11)
Other highlights of last night's awards included the Olympic Delivery Authority being named as the Client of the Year,while Sir David Chipperfield won the Contribution to the Profession award.
John Thompson&Partners won the Employer of the Year award while Hawkins/Brown were highly commended.Eric Parry Architects won the Fastest Growing Practice award with ORMS and Paul Davis+Partners both being highly commended.
The International Practice of the Year was awarded to Aukett Fitzroy Robinson while Paul Davis+Partners were awarded Practice of the Year with Eric Parry Architects highly commended.
Zara Hadid won the New Member of the Year award and Paul Davis+Partners won the Sustainable Practice of the Year award with Scott Brownrigg highly commended.
The Value Excellence award was presented to John McAslan+Partners while John Robertson Architects were highly commended.
Undertaken by the Architects'Journal in collaboration with Imperial College London,the annual AJ 100 survey provides a vivid insight into the performance and success of the architectural sector,and its value to the UK economy.The survey is completed by the vast majority of UK practices,who in addition to providing statistics on the number of qualified architects employed also submit information on their commercial performance.