The Norwich Society Awards for New Buildings 2007
This year, the shortlist for the Norwich Society Design Awards for new buildings saw an emphasis on developments that mesh with historic buildings. There is a particular art to building in or alongside notable structures and allowing the existing style to echo through new contemporary design. The Norwich Society is championing buildings that not only retain our heritage, but also give a distinctly twenty-first century message to the future.
The nineteen awards forming the shortlist recognised new buildings and restoration projects which responded to and complemented our existing heritage with materials and designs fit for a new century. The Society commended ten of these schemes but emphasises that being short-listed (small photgraphs) is already a signal achievement. The awards are grouped into three categories with commended schemes in bold with large photographs :
Baltic Wharf, off Mountergate
by Hopkins Homes
Baltic Wharf, off Mountergate, by Hopkins Homes was one of a number of schemes to enhance the river, drawing on the industrial heritage in its simple facades and balconies.
Other Shortlisted Housing
This theme is continued in the Moorings at Waterman's Yard, also by Hopkins Homes, and by Chaplin Farrant in Quayside at Fye Bridge for Roshier Developments. Thoroughfare Yard by the Owen Bond Partnership for Ashgate Developments was an elegant solution in Scandinavian mode to a restricted site.
The Moorings
Quayside
Thoroughfare Yd
Atrium of Norwich Union Building
by LSI Architects
The Norwich Union Marble Hall, Surrey House by G.J. Skipper was given a new function as a visitor reception and the boardroom restored.
The Atrium designed by Trevor Price of LSI Architects unifies the three surrounding office buildings under a wide span roof and provides an attractive and easily accessible meeting point.
Dragon Hall by Lucas Hickman Smith
At Dragon Hall, Terry Hickman Smith added a new north wing with an events room for the Norfolk and Norwich Heritage Trust. The Great Hall was divided by a screen and a glass gallery and new display space improved the links between separate parts of the building.
Norwich Market
Michael Innes and LSI Architects
Michael Innes, together with Rupert Kitchen 10 of LSI Architects, designed the high-tech stalls with folding roofs across the aisles for the Market, whilst retaining the stalls' original footprint.
Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Internal refurbishment (Link suite)
Foster & Partners
Foster & Partners provided an internal link between the Main Gallery and the Crescent Wing with additional display space, and a new shop for the refurbished Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at UEA. [Photo: Nigel Young, Foster & Partners]
Other Shortlisted Restorations
The Louis de Soissons Partnership for Elderhart Ltd removed the unsightly canopy from the St Stphen's faqade of Ketts Court and provided new housing around a roof garden. Thomas Ivory's terrace at 29-35 Surrey Street of 1761-62 was restored by Tim Gage and Brian White, preserving period features and adding two new blocks at the rear in a modern style. The facade and interior of St Giles House, also by G.J. Skipper, were restored by Carleton and Lana Van Selman with a rebuilt restaurant overlooking the roof garden.
Ketts Court
29-35 Surrey Street
St Giles House
Biomedical Research Building,
RH Partnership for UEA
Jeremy Buckingham and Phil Smith of RH Partnership fitted the Biomedical Research Centre at UEA into an extremely narrow and difficult site, picking up the curves of the neighbouring buildings whilst maintaining the University's high standards of energy efficiency.
Henderson Business Centre, Bowthorpe by Feilden and Mawson for NELM
Philip Bodie of Feilden and Mawson designed the modernist Henderson Business Centre, Bowthorpe, for the NELM Development Trust to provide flexible offices linked by airy corridors.
St Andrews Car Park
Ingleton Wood for Norwich City Council
The St Andrews Car Park, by Ingleton Wood for Norwich City Council, provides wide parking bays and good access. The exterior cladding is striking and the corner tower links with the Housing on the river frontage by Chaplin Farrant, which integrates a part of the future pedestrian riverside walk.
Chapelfield Housing by Chaplin Farrant
Chaplin Farrant also designed the Housing around the Chapelfield development, with three strikingly different facades. The one facing Chapelfield integrates the varied blocks symmetrically around the large glazed front of the House of Fraser.
Chapelfield Shopping Mall by BDP
The Water Sports Centre Whitlingham
Robin Snell Associates
The Water Sports Centre, by Robin Snell Associates for Norfolk County Children's Services, closes one view of Whitlingham Great Broad with a magnificent arched canopy over a series of elegant wooden buildings reminiscent of earlier sailing boats.
Other Shortlisted New Builds
The corner tower of St. Andrews Carpark links with the Housing on the river frontage by Chaplin Farrant, which integrates a part of the future pedestrian riverside walk.
Chapelfield Mall was developed by BDP for Capital Shopping Centres with entrances from Chapelfield South and Theatre Street. Internally it is naturally ventilated with elegantly designed interiors with stone floors and glazed roofs.
The second scheme for Norfolk County Council also offer intriguing uses of bold canopies. At the Queen's Road Bus Interchange Michael Spicer of Norfolk Property Services produced a fluid design offering better movement for the buses and facilities for the customers
St Andrews Car Park Housing
Interior of Chapelfield Mall
Queens Road Bus Interchange