HELENSBURGH’S Hill House ‘Box’ is in contention to be named the best architectural project in Europe.
The Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed building, which has been shrouded in a steel mesh frame since June 2019 to protect it against the elements, has been nominated for the 2022 EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture - previously known as the Mies van der Rohe Award.
The biennial prize, postponed until next year due to the coronavirus crisis, highlights outstanding architectural works built across the continent, with a main prize of €60,000 being awarded.
It is awarded to single architectural works “demonstrating excellence in conceptual, social, cultural and technical terms,” while it also “raises awareness of quality architecture and its contribution to the well-being of citizens and the sustainable development of European cities, towns and villages”.
Previous winners, in 2019, were the architects behind an innovative renovation of three huge apartment buildings in Bordeaux, France, transforming 530 dwellings to provide improved living spaces.
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Carmody Groarke, the architectural firm responsible for the Hill House ‘Box’, designed the structure to prevent further deterioration of the early-20th century masterpiece.
Ever since the building’s completion, it has been soaking up water - and the salty sea air from the nearby Firth of Clyde - like a sponge because of the experimental design and materials Mackintosh used on its exterior.
It’s expected that the ‘Box’ will be in place for up to 10 years, to give the property’s owners, the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) time to come up with a suitable long-term solution to protect the building from the worst of the west of Scotland’s weather.
However, when the NTS unveiled the ‘Box’ concept in December 2017, it said that it also hoped the protective shield - comprising 165 tonnes of steel frame and 32.4 million chainmail rings, themselves weighing 8.3 tonnes - would itself attract new visitors to the property and the town.
The £3.2 million conservation project was also named alongside some of the country’s finest new builds in the 2020 Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) awards.
The box, the world’s largest chainmail structure, will remain in place for up to a decade to allow the building to dry out before preservation work begins.
Confirming the nomination, a post on the Hill House Facebook page read: “The Box is the perfect example of conservation in action and allows our visitors to experience The Hill House like never before.”
A full list of nominated works in the first phase of the 2022 award is due to be released this month - visit miesarch.com for more information.
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