Royal College of Art Receives Prix Versailles Award – Herzog & de Meuron (original) (raw)
PARIS, FRANCE – Our project for the Royal College of Art in Battersea was awarded the Prix Versailles, Special Prize for Exterior in the Campuses category.
Workshops, studio, and research spaces are arranged as a series of porous and interconnected volumes to create interactions between students and faculty, and between members of the RCA community and the neighbourhood beyond. The materiality of the campus integrates itself within the local context—the ground floor façade is made of a simple stock brick in a textured Flemish bond, perforated in areas with open patterned brickwork for ventilation. The Research Building departs from this masonry language with a vertical composition of sinuous white fins, calibrated across the façade to moderate solar gain and glare, and to naturally ventilate the workspaces within.
Announced each year by UNESCO since 2015, the Prix Versailles pays tribute to innovation, creativity, reflections of local heritage, ecological efficiency and the values of social interaction and participation.