2022 EAA Awards for Architecture

REGENERATION / CONSERVATION AWARD

WINNER

SIMPSON & BROWN

JOHNNIE WALKER PRINCES STREET

JUDGES’ COMMENTS

“Johnnie Walker Princes Street is a huge, highly significant and enormously complex project. It takes the old Binns/House of Fraser department store, one of many empty and at risk former retail premises on Princes Street, and introduces a landmark new use which saves it for the future. Through a combination of careful conservation and new interventions, the building is transformed; despite its scale and diversity of use, there is a striking level of clarity and consistency which carries throughout, from the new rooftop terrace to the bonded warehouse in the basement. This is a project which is impressive in the logistics of the design and the attention to detail in conception and finish, dotted throughout with moments of drama and spectacle which befit its location at the heart of the city; it enriches the story of the changing future of Princes Street.”

COMMENDATION

DAVID BLAIKIE ARCHITECTS

CABINS IN THE CITY

JUDGES’ COMMENTS

“Cabins in the City combines beauty in design and execution with careful thought for the future use of the building. It demonstrates a concern for existing fabric, seen in the detailed restoration of the stone and brick party wall, and a desire to introduce new moments of contemporary craft. Like Johnnie Walker Princes Street, it reuses an at-risk former retail unit, creating a place to live which is bright and private despite its ground floor location and feels much larger internally than the street-facing elevation suggests. The material choices bring a remarkable sense of calm within, a key ambition of the ‘urban cabin’ ethos; as an example of an increasingly common form of project, converting ground floor tenement retail units into residential use, it sets a very high bar.”

Many thanks to Cupa Pizarras, the sponsor of the EAA Regeneration & Conservation Award 2022

SHORT-LISTED PROJECTS

The three short listed projects are (left to right above):

Cabins in the City  - David Blaikie Architects

Johnnie Walker Princes Street – Simpson & Brown

Penicuik Town Hall – Smith Scott Mullan

PLEASE FIND FURTHER IMAGES AND PROJECT INFORMATION BELOW

Congratulations to all short listed project teams!