Dublin architects Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell have created a "vertical campus" for the client, the University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC). The new building responds with powerful concrete shapes to the landscape of the Peruvian capital, the motorway and the rocky Pacific coast. Blocks with classrooms, laboratories, teachers' offices, etc. as if suspended in an open frame, where the main role is played by terraces for study, relaxation and communication of students. Parts of the building are more often interconnected not by corridors, but by bridges. The mild tropical climate makes it possible to use open spaces all year round, as well as dispense with natural ventilation.
The jury of the award, chaired by Richard Rogers, explains its choice by the fact that the UTEC corps combines local culture and new perspectives for its "users". UTEC was originally created as a "social" university, and such an emphatically public building should further contribute to the development and growth of its students. The building not only inspires future engineers studying within its walls, but also interested the leadership of Peruvian government agencies, hospitals, etc. his innovative project.
It is important to note that it is not a novelty for McNamara and Farrell to be the first laureates of a prestigious international prize: before the RIBA International Prize (we wrote in detail about it
here and here) they received the first Grand Prix of the World Architecture Festival (WAF) in 2008 for the building of the Luigi Bocconi University in Milan - no less concrete and brutal than their construction in Lima.
The founders of Grafton say about their building in Lima: “This is architecture as geology and geography. This is an artificial cliff, as if carved out of a concrete monolith. This is a challenge building, its beauty is not limited to its appearance … It is a structure for life that slightly shakes up the concept of beauty. This is architecture for all five senses."
