AROUND THE BLOCK:DUBLIN-BASED architects Heneghan Penghas won yet another important commission â to design a £60 million (â¬68.25 million) faculty building and library for the University of Greenwich's School of Architecture and Construction, in London.
The scheme is earmarked for Greenwich town centre, within a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A selection panel chaired by the distinguished architect Lord Rogers chose the practice from a shortlist of seven; over 70 expressions of interest were submitted.
This is Heneghan Pengâs fourth commission in a sensitive World Heritage Site. The others are a visitorsâ centre for the Giantâs Causeway in Northern Ireland, the Grand Egyptian Museum at the pyramids near Cairo and a bridge across the Rhine in Germany.
Baroness Blackstone, the universityâs vice-chancellor, said she was âdelighted that we are to appoint RoisÃn Heneghan and Shih-Fu Pengâ, noting that they lead an âexciting young practiceâ which should produce âan inspiring piece of contemporary architecture for Greenwichâ.
The two architects, who beat such luminaries as David Chipperfield, Rafael Viñoly and Allies Morrison to win the commission, said it was âa dream and a privilegeâ to be given an opportunity to design a new building so close to the Greenwich meridian line of zero degrees longitude.