Architecture 08: The Guide to the RIBA Awards

“This is high density housing at its very best, demonstrating that volume housebuilders can deliver high-quality architecture and, as a result, improve their own bottom line.”

“The Stirling judges awarded the prize to Accordia as the scheme they felt could push things forward in a very ordinary way. It is an exhiliarating project that adheres to the tenets of  Modernism, reinstating values lost from housing in the latter part of the twentieth century to deliver light and fresh air at high density. Accordia, they felt, marks a paradigm shift in British housing. To an industry that has for too long been anti-design and to politicians who have regarded houses as targets to be achieved, it sends a message that good housing does matter: it is the place where people’s lives and attitudes to society are shaped. Like all the best architecture, Accordia creates its own context and is already a place that appears always been there. Its values are those British cities need: a subtly controlling masterplan, a collaborative approach, and an eye for both detail and the big picture.”