The University of Queensland’s Oral Health Centre has taken out the second Daryl Jackson Award for Educational Architecture at the 2016 National Architecture Awards.
Designed by Cox Rayner Architects with Hames Sharley and Conrad Gargett Riddel, the Oral Health Centre is the second educational building to win the prize, introduced by the Institute in 2015.
The 2016 Educational Architecture category was once again very strong, with a total of eight projects shortlisted for the top prize and four receiving an award or commendation.
The architects received the prize at the 2016 National Architecture Awards, held in Sydney on 3 November.
View the full list of winning projects from the 2016 National Architecture Awards here.
Read the full jury citation for University of Queensland Oral Health Centre (QLD) by Cox Rayner Architects with Hames Sharley and Conrad Gargett Riddel, and see the other awarded projects in the Educational Architecture category below:
The Daryl Jackson Award for Educational Architecture - University of Queensland Oral Health Centre (QLD) by Cox Rayner Architects with Hames Sharley and Conrad Gargett Riddel
Photography by Christopher Frederick Jones
Jury citation: Located in a park of eucalypts, adjoining a historic medical building and bordering a new medical precinct, the University of Queensland’s Oral Health Centre successfully navigates its institutional program and its significant scale to create a building that embeds itself in its urban environment. The building is a connecter between precincts while engaging with its place.
Circulation between inside and out is seamless, enabling a sequence of experiences that exploit the mild climate and allow continual and pervasive connection to the outdoors. Topography is used to advantage as the building steps down the site to engage each level with the park. The articulated and playful forms sit beautifully within the canopy of trees and masterfully manage scale and height. Environments dedicated to dental teaching and practice are often highly clinical, more about the machine than the individual and associated with fear and anxiety.
However, unwavering attention to craft, material and form in a building of this scale creates a truly humanising experience, one that demonstrates both warmth and care. The practitioner, the teacher, the student and the patient have all been carefully considered in the design of this finely crafted work.
OTHER AWARDS
- Award for Educational Architecture - The Mandeville Centre, Loreto Toorak (VIC) by Architectus
Photography by Trevor Mein
- Commendation for Educational Architecture - Geelong Grammar School, School of Performing Arts & Creative Education (VIC) by Peter Elliott Architecture + Urban Design
Photography by John Gollings
- Commendation for Educational Architecture - UNSW Materials Science & Engineering Building (NSW) by Grimshaw
Photography by John Gollings
