Architecture Award Winners 2020

The 2020 Architecture Award went to joint winners, both radical solutions at heritage sites, Fordham Abbey Dojima Sake Brewery by SCABAL  and The Hill House Box in Helensburgh by Carmody Groarke.

Fordham Abbey Dojima Sake Brewery

Scabal

Architecture Award Winner

The Fordham Abbey Dojima Sake Brewery building houses the making of high-quality Sake in small quantities, is a training and educational facility, a visitor experience and Japanese café. It’s the first purpose-built Sake brewery in the UK and stands as the start of the Fordham Abbey masterplan to regenerate this country estate and welcome visitors to aspects of Japanese culture.

The Sake Brewery’s external form is a single-aisled barn with a 33’ duo-pitched roof, three large natural ventilation chimneys, walls and roof clad in berry-red profiled aluminium. The Sake brewing process uses a lot of water, to wash, soak and steam the rice, to wash down all surfaces and equipment for each brewing cycle, arranged in this building for people to see.

Likewise, the primary structure is exposed internally as nine eccentric galvanized steel UB section portal frames to clear-span the 14.000m cross-section up to 8.000m high ridge. In turn, galvanized angle section bay-bracing and profiled steel trays complete the structural system and internal wall finish. Stack-bonded blockwork walls are not load-bearing and simply serve as thermally and acoustically insulated room dividers. Services run to all areas and are carefully exposed in galvanized steel barrel.

The new saké brewery breathes new life into a run-down historic site and a disused farm, supporting and safeguarding their futures through the introduction of a whole new process and product, a traditional drink from Japan, now made in Fordham.

Images © SCABAL, Ed Tyler

The Hill House

Carmody Groarke

Architecture Award Winner

The Hill House is arguably Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s residential masterpiece, one of Scotland most acclaimed buildings, Grade A listed, and a seminal part of early 20th century European architecture. A hybridisation of tradition and invention in the construction of the building has led to some fundamental long-term problems of prolonged water damage. The National Trust for Scotland have determined that a major conservation project is needed to avoid irreversible destruction.

Rather than incarcerate the house away from view whilst the restoration is undertaken, a more radical approach to active conservation has been taken. As an integral part of this conservation process, which could take up to ten years, a ‘big-box’ temporary museum to contain and protect The Hill House as an ‘artefact’ has been built. This allows the house to dry out and be conserved, whilst enabling visitors to see the conservation process first hand and maintain public access to the historic interiors.

Images © Johan Dehlin

Read more about the architecture award category.