An award-winning churchJust over a year after he handed over the keys of St Andrew's Benton over to the congregation, the architect Vincente Stienlet of Pascal J Stienlet and Son has won a coveted Commendation in the Hadrian Awards, which celebrate and promote Excellence in Architecture and Design in the North East of England and Cumbria.
The winners for 2009 were announced at a160n evening celebration on December 3rd in Cooper's Studio, Newcastle upon Tyne. Architects submit their own buildings for consideration, and this year eleven were shortlisted, of which six received an Award, and three, including St Andrew's, received a Commendation.
The awards emphasise the wider concept of place makiing, including urban and landscape design and the particular skills required in conservation of the historic environment. Schemes entered must have been completed for at least a year, allowing them to be properly scrutinised using criteria based on real life experience
The citation for the St Andrew's design says:
"The ingenuity of the architect here was to take awkwardness and create from it sense. It was a Rubik's cube of a project that could only be achieved with three-dimensional understanding of potential and dexterity of intervention. The array of rooms for creches, meetings and other activities is extraordinary and says as much about the life of the community as the acts of worship, both of which begin with space for welcome. This was a project dealing with practicalities. In ten years time, the achievements of this scheme could be taken for granted, which will be a shame, and unfair, for humble understatement is not to be demeaned."
Now that St Andrew's people have had a year to get used to their re-worked builing, what are their feelings about it? Their minister Peter Rand says "They feel very fortunate to have had Vincente Stienlet as their architect. He listened very carefully to our hopes for our building, our church and our community. He encouraged us to see our building as a source of hope for the community around us, then he took our rather difficult building, on many levels on a sloping site, and used his imagination to give us something we can really use. We love it, as does everyone who comes into it."
Peter added, "Today we held our second Christmas Tree Festival, and welcomed many visitors from the surrounding area. We hope they felt the warmth of the building and of our welcome. We hope we can live up to our architect's vision for us. Almost everyone who comes in says it's a building that makes you feel good."
Other schemes commended were were Sunniside Gardens and The Wynd, Amble. Award-winning schemes included MIMA in Middlesborough, the Tyneside Cinema, The Place, Sunderland, Kielder Observatory and the Lakeside Centre, Killingworth. Illustrious company!