Two buildings in Suffolk including a Buddhist retreat set in the heart of the countryside are among six projects in the East of England to receive a prestigious award for architecture.
Vajrasana Buddhist Retreat Centre in Walsham le Willows and Peacock House in Aldeburgh have both won a 2017 RIBA National Award from the Royal Institute of British Architects in recognition of their architectural excellence.
They will now be in contention for the coveted RIBA Stirling Prize for the UK’s best building which will be announced in October.
Designed by Walters & Cohen Architects, the Vajrasana Buddhist Retreat Centre was completed in May 2016 and cost more than £4million to build.
It is used for meditation and consists of a series of courtyards and shared communal rooms.
RIBA judges said the combination of materials used and the configuration of rooms gave the retreat “both a feeling of sparseness and sensuousness”.
“This is an extraordinarily well conceived building which has arisen from close collaboration between client and architect and is delighting its users,” they said.
“There is a wonderful sense of calm in both the spaces created and materials used that are thoroughly appropriate to the building’s use.”
Peacock House, in a wooded area on the outskirts of Aldeburgh, was designed by BHSF Architekten, Zurich, with Studio-P, London, and was completed last December.
It was built for Jila and Andrew Peacock at a cost of £948,000 and is set in a specially designed enclosed garden.
Judges said the property was “an accomplished work of architecture, whose overall simplicity in plan, elevation and detail belies an intriguing complexity in both internal and external spaces”.
They noted that “the subtleties in different floor levels and roofscape” ensure all the rooms have an individual and particular feel.
Both of the projects were among 17 to pick up regional accolades from RIBA earlier this year and are now celebrated among 49 projects from across the UK.
RIBA President Jane Duncan said: “Congratulations to the clients and their design teams for the extraordinary talent, ambition and enthusiasm that have led to this year’s roll-call of phenomenal buildings.”
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