UCL Student Centre wins international architecture award

The UCL Student Centre has been awarded the Special Prize Interior in the sixth edition of the Prix Versailles architecture and design awards.

Source: UCL Imagestore

The multifaceted Student Centre was designed by UCL alumnus James Eades of Nicholas Hare Architects, and has now been recognised by the high-profile Prix Versailles for its interior architecture and design. 

Prix Versailles honours “the most remarkable structures, in terms of both interior and exterior architecture,” and commends notable commercial architecture according to categories such as Airports, Campuses, Passenger Stations and Sports.

The Student Centre plays host to over 1,000 study spaces across eight floors, as well as a cafe, a rooftop terrace and the Student Support and Wellbeing Centre. The Centre’s green credentials also played a part in its recognition by Prix Versailles, as it features recycled building materials, rooftop solar panels and a temperature regulation system that helps to reduce energy usage.

Since its opening in 2019, the Student Centre has received 11 accolades, including a Civic Trust  2020 award and the Higher Education Project prize at the 2019 Architects’ Journal Architecture Awards.

The other Campus buildings that have been recognised this year by the Prix include the Life Sciences Building at the University of Melbourne (“Prix Versailles”), and the Isenberg School of Management Business Innovation Hub at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (“Special prize exterior”).

After graduating from The Bartlett School of Architecture in 1996, James Eades joined Nicholas Hare Architects in 1997 and has since led the refurbishment of the Bloomsbury Theatre which reopened in 2019. Eades has stated that “this award is a testament to tremendous teamwork and commitment and the vision of an inspiring client. We are thrilled.”

The Prix Versailles considers architecture from around the world, and the Student Centre is among only four UK buildings to have received an award in its history, although the nearby Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross also recently received the “Prix Versailles” in the Shopping Mall category in 2019.