Reiach and Hall wins Higher Education category in AJ Architecture Awards 2021

When the judges visited this 21,000m² campus – the third that Reiach and Hall has designed for the Forth Valley College of Further and Higher Education – it was serving as a Covid vaccination centre. Witnessing it being used in this alternative way underlined something crucial about the quality of this special building, they agreed.

‘It’s just so adaptable – you can easily transform the building into something else,’ said one judge. ‘The users are so proud and the people running it feel it has met all their standards. The designers have also thought hard about the surroundings and being part of this “green corridor”. It isn’t something that just landed on this site.’

The building is the college’s headquarters facility and includes a Centre of Excellence for Sport and separate workshop block, as well as a range of innovative learning spaces. The judges felt a remarkable level of quality had been achieved on the tight budget.

One said: ‘The thing I really loved was the west elevation – simple, Danish-style, stripped-down architecture, a long, glazed elevation and trees acting as a sunshade. It’s really good value for money and really well done.’

Shortlist

• Cranmer Road, King’s College by Allies and Morrison
• Solent Sports Complex by ArchitecturePLB
• University of Birmingham, Teaching and Learning Building by BDP
• West Downs Centre, University of Winchester by Design Engine Architects
• New Science Building, University of East Anglia by Fraser Brown MacKenna Architects
• Centre Building at the LSE by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
• Leeds Beckett University, Carnegie School of Sport by Sheppard Robson

Judges

• Dan Anderson, director, Fourth Street
• Andrea Carajal, associate, carbon and energy lead, Greengage Environmental
• Alice Hamlin, architect, Mole Architects
• Kirsten Lees, managing partner, Grimshaw
• Robin Nicholson, fellow, Cullinan Studio

SPONSORED BY