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New St Pancras wins major award for architecture
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent29.05.08
The transformed St Pancras station and refurbished Royal Festival Hall are honoured today.
They are among 29 winners at the 2008 London awards of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
St Pancras International, the new Eurostar terminal by Alastair Lansley, is praised as the best building in a historic context. Judges said the way the station was renovated "establishes the magnificence of the architecture".
The Festival Hall, refurbished by Allies and Morrison for £118 million, takes the public space award. The judges said it had been restored to its "original elegance and vitality", becoming "a highly successful urban living room for London".
The awards are being announced at the Young Vic Theatre in Waterloo. Another winner was the Sackler Crossing at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The bronze and granite footbridge by John Pawson took the RIBA London special award.
Westminster Academy at the Naim Dangoor Centre was named building of the year. It was born out of a school in a site ringed by the Westway, a railway and high-rise council estates. The judges praised its graphic signage, which "contributes a level of spirited corporate identity that traditional schools lack".
The client of the year prize went to Queen Mary, University of London, for Richard Feilden House, a student residence of 200 rooms. The college impressed judges with its "consistent approach to securing great design".
Other buildings honoured include Wembley Stadium; the LTA's National Tennis Centre; Rivington Place, the black visual arts centre by David Adjaye; the renovation of the Royal Observatory; Heathrow Airport's Terminal-5; and Camden council's Classrooms of the Future project.
Will Alsop, RIBA London's patron, said: "This year has produced really exceptional architectural achievements, landmark buildings which are achieving huge critical and public acclaim as well as inspirational work on a smaller scale in the community."
Winners now go forward in a process that ends with the national Stirling Prize for Architecture.
