AROUND THE BLOCK:DUBLIN-BASED architects Heneghan Penghas won yet another important commission – to design a £60 million (€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 Peng’s fourth commission in a sensitive World Heritage Site. The others are a visitors’ centre for the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland, the Grand Egyptian Museum at the pyramids near Cairo and a bridge across the Rhine in Germany.
Baroness Blackstone, the university’s vice-chancellor, said she was “delighted that we are to appoint Roisín Heneghan and Shih-Fu Peng”, noting that they lead an “exciting young practice” which should produce “an inspiring piece of contemporary architecture for Greenwich”.
The two architects, who beat such luminaries as David Chipperfield, Rafael Viñoly and Allies Morrison to win the commission, said it was “a dream and a privilege” to be given an opportunity to design a new building so close to the Greenwich meridian line of zero degrees longitude.
