Keith Williams Architects is delighted to have won the prestigious Copper in Architecture Award for the firm’s Unicorn Theatre in London.
The award was presented to Keith Williams by Paul Finch, editor of the Architectural Review, and chairman of the judges at a ceremony at the Institute of Materials in London last night (25 September).
The Copper in Architecture Awards are sponsored by the industry body the Copper Development Association (CDA).
The judges citation reads
“Compositionally this building is an asymmetric pavilion. Its elevations are open and transparent where they need to be, revealing the heart of the building to the public, yet elsewhere deliberately solid and cliff-like. Materials are freely but precisely arranged reinforcing the building masses which coalesce to form abstract, asymmetrical sculptural compositions for each elevation. The main theatre is treated like a ‘casket’ wrapped in a random length strip rain-screen system using pre-oxidised copper of differing widths to give a laminar, striated and massive quality. The strip copper is carried into the interior of the building to celebrate the presence of the main theatre hovering above the foyer.
The beautifully executed copper skin gives a particular grandeur to the building’s entrance without being overbearing of massive. The cool, calm approach taken with this landmark building and a careful use of materials single it out as Winner of the UK Award.”