Coventry University building wins prestigious architecture award

Coventry University’s The Hub has won a prestigious award from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) at the annual regional awards ceremony last week.

The Hub, a new purpose-built student building designed by London-based architects Hawkins\Brown, won an RIBA Architecture West Midlands 2012 Award, in recognition of its architectural excellence.

The building sits at the heart of the Coventry University campus and was designed to enhance the student experience. It opened in September 2011 and offers space to meet up with friends or study informally in the day, and a vibrant venue with bars, a 700-capacity club, a cinema and performing arts space in the evening.  It is also home to Coventry University Students’ Union and a range of student support services.

Judges comment’s on the night highlighted the inventiveness of The Hub’s design which uses detail and visual effect in key areas to create “surprise and intimacy in what is a essentially a simple glass and concrete box (and) overall a vibrant and popular building that is a well-deserving winner of a regional award”.

Professor Gerry Ackerman, deputy director of estates and property, said:

We are delighted that the RIBA have recognised what an exciting and important building The Hub is on our campus. It is a great tribute for all the hard work ourselves and our partners out in on creating this highly successful, student focused building for the 21st century.

Russell Brown, partner at Hawkins\Brown, said:

We were really impressed with Coventry University's willingness to innovate and support for the whole team to really push the boundaries. They were absolutely determined to get the best environment for their students and for the City

The BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rated building also includes a number of green credentials such as: ground source cooling from a bore hole on site; natural ventilation; grey water harvesting (rain water for the toilets); solar water heating; a green roof and is managed by an electronic buildings management system.

The £32m ‘Hub’ is part of a £150m redevelopment programme at the University’s city centre campus. The next stage of which will be the opening of the new state of the art home for the Faculty of Engineering and Computing in September 2012.

The Hub has also been shortlisted for the ‘Award for Construction’ at the annual Built in Quality Awards, sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Buildings and announced in Birmingham on 6th July, as well as the prestigious British Construction Industry Awards 2012 taking place in October.