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dia awards 2007

A REVIEW OF THE WINNERS IN 2007 AND THE LAUNCH OF THE 2008 AWARDS

The Dundee Institute of Architects praised the exhibition of the entrants to its annual awards which was hosted for a month by Dundee’s Sensation Science Centre and the excellent winners that were selected from their midst’s. Ged Young the President of the DIA welcomed guests to the exhibition and enthused “The Dundee Institute of Architects have now been running these annual awards over the course of two decades. We hope that the awards not only applaud the excellent buildings seen across our chapter area, as exampled by this year’s entries, but also encourage clients, architects and the local authorities to constantly improve the quality of our built environment.”

“Last year the awards received some forty long listed entries from Fife, Angus, Dundee, Perth and Kinross. That work was of a very high standard ranging from public realm works, through interior design or commercial developments to private houses. Those entries set a very high standard which we hope to emulate with the launch of the 2008 awards. Last year’s entries set a very stern task for myself and the other members of the judging panel, freelance journalist and television presenter Neil Mudie and Duncan of Jordanston College of Art’s Ralph Tilston.”

“We enjoyed a lengthy debate at our short listing meeting and then a highly rewarding tour of each of the projects which reached the final short list.”

“Awards are a very important means by which we can encourage more professionals and members of the public to take a real interest in our environment. From that point of view the seven categories of professional awards are supplemented by the DIA Student Award and the DIA Best Building of the 1990’s vote. We have now sponsored a sketch design competition for fourth year architecture students at the College of Art for a number of years, and this year we set them a challenge to create an outdoor entertainment space just off the Perth Road, Dundee opposite the College of Art. We were delighted by the end results, the best of which were displayed as part of the exhibition. Clearly there is a great deal of talent at Duncan of Jordanston and we are eagar to encourage these future generations of architects in this way.”

“Equally we wish to reach out to the public by means of the exhibition and the public vote to select Tayside’s Best Building of the 1990’s. The buildings shortlisted for that award included the British Golf Museum, St Andrews, the Matthew Gloag HQ, Perth; and Dundee Contemporary Arts along with two projects by the Nicoll Russell Studios who were responsible for the previous year’s winning building Dundee Rep. This award attracted several hundred votes from the public and Richard Murphy’s DCA was a very worthy winner.”

The DIA President applauded the winners, the commended and the many entrants to each category.

Ged continued “Of course events such as this could not happen, if it were not for the vital support of our principle sponsor the Royal Bank of Scotland and our category sponsors, Thorntons, Blackadders, Ora Ceramics, Kallkwik, Duncarse, Ibstock, Project Scotland and Proctor Group.”

“We wish to thank all of those sponsors, the entrants, their clients, judges, Sensation and the many people who have assisted in the preparation of the exhibition, the organisation of the awards, and the awards dinner itself. The dinner was a culmination of a lot of hard work, which has enabled our institute to publicise the talent which is exampled by many fine buildings across Tayside and Fife.

We must now though, look towards this year which we hope will continue the success of our previous years’ efforts.”

“We are very lucky that we enjoy so many excellent sponsors who remain committed to supporting our efforts and this year have sought to enlarge the appeal of the awards beyond last year’s categories with the addition of three new award categories, namely:

The DIA Regeneration Award - for the regeneration of individual buildings, spaces, or urban areas.
The DIA House Extension Award - to reward the many excellent small but life changing additions to domestic properties in the area.

The third category marks a sea change in the geographic reach of many local practices who are now working throughout Britain and beyond. That success is therefore underlined by the new DIA Ambassador Award, for projects designed within the DIA chapter but executed out with that area. We are certain that this award will underline the talent available in the area, and will bring into the limelight a host of work, which may surprise many observers.

Hopefully the DIA 2008 Awards will continue our past success, and we appeal to our local architects and clients to carefully consider what they can enter when the entry forms are mailed to our members latter in the summer. That said, all of our categories with the exception of the DIA Ambassador Award are open to all architects, and we hope that we will receive many entries for buildings completed in our chapter, but designed from further a field. We believe that openness is an important factor in the quality and vitality of the awards and hope that our approach will be a model for other similar organisations.

To find out the winners on the night please choose from the award catagories on the left.