The Architectural Review has announced that Sala Beckett by Flores & Prats is the winner of the 2019 AR New into Old awards. The project was selected by a panel of judges for its inventive re-use, and it was awarded alongside two Highly Commended and three Commended buildings for sustainable alternatives to building anew. The AR New into Old awards celebrate the creative ways buildings are adapted and remodeled to welcome new contemporary uses.
The winning Spanish project was selected by our panel of judges, which includes Roz Barr, director and founder of Roz Barr Architects, Hugh Strange, founder of Hugh Strange Architects, and Catherine Slessor, writer, critic and former editor of The Architectural Review. The winner is joined by two Highly Commended projects: Renovation strategies for the ancient tulou, China, by Rural Urban Framework, The University of Hong Kong and Nevill Holt Opera House, UK, by Witherford Watson Mann Architects.
Launched in 2017, the awards recognize the imaginative appropriation of existing structures, from innovative insertions to ambitious adaptations, that offer buildings a new lease of life. For this year's winning project, judge Roz Barr noted that, "Sala Beckett is a magical and inventive re-use and celebration of a building that is beautiful and carefully revalued and restored – it has been dissected and then re-assembled to offer a mesmerizing set of spaces that are more theatrical in how they challenge the existing building."
As AR states, this year’s shortlist includes projects from around the world, from Cambodia and Australia to Sweden and the UK. Programs include educational buildings at Harvard and Oxford Universities, in Spain and rural China, galleries in Mexico City and Helsinki, and theaters in Barcelona and London. Projects vary in scale, from small domestic transformations in Japan to Sweden’s largest art museum, and are located in a wide range of climates, from the Mediterranean island of Mallorca to rain-lashed Scotland.
Winner
- Sala Beckett, Spain, by Flores & Prats
Highly Commended
- Renovation strategies for the ancient tulou, China, by Rural Urban Framework, The University of Hong Kong
- Nevill Holt Opera House, UK, by Witherford Watson Mann Architects
Commended
- OMR Art Gallery, Mexico, by Max von Werz, Mateo Riestra & José Arnaud-Bello
- Qingyuan Young Professors’ Club, Zhejiang University, China, by the Architectural Design and Research Institute of Zhejiang University
- Oenological Station, Spain, by Aulets Arquitectes
Shortlisted
- Smith Campus Center, Harvard University, USA, by Hopkins Architects
- Royal Academy of Music Theatre and new Recital Hall, UK, by Ian Ritchie Architects
- Atelier Kampot, Cambodia, by Bloom Architecture
- Clover House, Japan, by MAD Architects
- Nationalmuseum, Sweden, by Wingårdhs
- The Hill House Box, UK, by Carmody Groarke
- Amos Rex, Finland, by JKMM Architects
- Install House, Australia, by Partners Hill
- Library & Study Centre, St John's College Oxford, UK, by Wright & Wright Architects
- EMAV Can Batlló, Spain, by Julia Arquitectes Associats
