Opened less than a year ago in the Deptford district of the southeast of the British capital, the training center, designed by the Swiss Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, has received the prestigious award from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for the best building of the year built in the European Union and making an important contribution into English architecture.
According to the jury, the Laban Center is a new symbol of Deptford, "significant and attractive at the same time," providing a perspective for the regeneration of the entire area.
The building is a one-piece laconic volume with double cladding: a thin shell of colored polycarbonate panels on the outside and an insulating layer on the inside, the latter absorbing solar energy and preventing heat leakage.
The most serious rival of the Swiss bureau in the final of the award was Lord Foster with his new Great Courtyard of the British Museum.
This year, the £ 20,000 award is being presented for the eighth time, in 2002 to the Wilkinson Eyre for the Gateshead Millennium Bridge.
