Aviva among Irish projects scoring awards

Three projects in Ireland – two North and one South – have been honoured with RIBA awards, writes EMMA CULLINAN

THREE PROJECTS in Ireland have won RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) awards, announced today. Two in Northern Ireland include a house by Belfast-based Twenty Two Over Seven architects and an Irish language cultural centre by Dublin-based architects O’Donnell + Tuomey. Both practices have won RIBA awards before.

In Dublin, the Aviva stadium is scoring in architecture again: this was a joint project by international practice Populous and Irish firm Scott Tallon Walker.

Winning these awards puts two of the practices on the long list for the prestigious Stirling Prize, which will be announced on October 1st.

The Northern Ireland house will go forward for the Manser Medal, which used to be awarded in the house section of the Stirling Prize but is now an award in its own right, attesting to the popularity and quality of domestic architecture (17 of the 89 UK RIBA awards are for houses).

All of the projects have combined sculptural qualities with functionality.The two Northern Ireland projects have been praised for their gravitas. In the case of the An Gaeláras cultural centre, Derry, the board-marked concrete walls, which evoke the scale of the neighbouring brickwork, was said by judges to lend “the interior a sense of gravitas that complements the use of plywood and painted plaster elsewhere”.

They spoke of the building as a “sculptural intervention” into Derry, with its “intriguing vortex plan that draws the visitor inwards and upwards”.

The house by Twenty Two Over Seven in Donaghadee, a town near the mouth of Belfast Lough, is said by the judges to have “a well-balanced and thoughtful plan within a fresh interpretation of a Celtic vernacular”.

The house addresses the landscape well with its private external garden rooms at the back. The front of the house speaks of British architect Baillie Scott, with its “well-placed” horizontal windows.

It cost £330,000 (€374,000) to build but its design makes it seem more expensive, right down to the detail which, say the assessors, is “consistent, robust and thoroughly executed throughout the house, from the timber staircase to the bespoke doors and windows and the fine roof to the external rendering.

“Porcelain stone floors and oak give the house a sense of quality that belies its modest budget.”

The Aviva Stadium is in the European category of the awards and is up against the likes of a Foster + Partners wine-making facility in Spain and a shopping centre by David Chipperfield in Innsbruck, Austria.

As with many who have gone before, the judges were captivated by the roof and talk of how that translucent polycarbonate skin “skilfully wraps” the stadium and its constituent components.