WEST COURT FOR JESUS COLLEGE WINS AIA UK AWARD
APRIL 2018
Níall McLaughlin Architects are delighted that our West Court project for Jesus College Cambridge has been announced as the overall winner of the American Institute of Architecture UK Awards 2018. It was selected from a strong shortlist of 20 projects including Bloomberg European Headquarters by Foster + Partners, Inagawa Cemetery by David Chipperfield and the Royal Academy of Music’s Theatre and New Recital Hall by Ian Ritchie Architects.
Three fantastic projects were awarded commendations including the Smithsonian Nation- al Museum of African American History and Culture by David Adjaye Architects, Kings Gate London by Lynch Architects and Weston Street by AHMM. IF_DO won the Young Architect category for their Dulwich Pavilion and Part 1 student Ross Gribben won the Unbuilt category with his project Hydra.
AN OXFORD OUTING
DECEMBER 2017
Last month NMLA’s Balliol College team went on a celebratory excursion to Oxford to mark an important project milestone. We visited selected buildings by the office and by others, called at the site to observe demolition-in-progress, and finally hid from the rain for festive beverages.
All aboard the 9 o’clock train from London Marylebone. The sky is grey and the clouds are heavy.
One hour later, two taxis crawl up the hill to Ripon College. Ten excited people are deposited on its driveway.
We enter the chapel. Two people to pull the entrance door wide. Eyes up; iPhones out; pause to pose for photo.
Outside, driver’s thumbs drum-drumming against the steering wheel. Doors open; it’s time to go. Heart FM for the drive into town.
Students mill around Somerville College. Camouflaged amongst them we enter NMLA’s housing block. Up the stair tower, peeking into bedrooms and kitchens, we debate the merits of bathroom pods.
Herzog and de Meuron’s Blavatnik School of Government stands next to Somerville, glittering. Like magpies we are drawn through its doors.
On the roof terrace Oxford is laid out beneath us, dreaming spires etc., but next: lunch.
Heavier and happier, we walk to Worcester College’s Nazrin Shah Building. Heads pressed to the glass we stare greedily inside.
Later, eleven sets of PPE are donned and rainclouds assemble as we tour the site. Mud, glorious mud. Three years till ribbon-cutting.
The rain starts, the pub beckons. Cheers to Balliol!