Penoyre & Prasad, in collaboration with Graphisoft, have been shortlisted in the ‘Technology’ category of the AJ Specification Awards for their work on the Templeman Library Extension & Refurbishment at the University of Kent. These new awards recognise the importance of collaboration between architects, suppliers and manufacturers and showcase outstanding buildings where products and materials have been used creatively.

The project was run using Graphisoft’s Teamwork, with up to 10 staff collaborating and benefitting from the automated co-ordination in a model-based workflow.

“Templeman Library was our first ARCHICAD project, it was a substantial assignment and we ran it from start to finish using ARCHICAD,” Ana Matic, Associate Partner at Penoyre & Prasad explains, “We used BIMx to brief the client and show them around the design on briefing days. It was very useful to help the client to visualise the spaces, especially the junctions between the old and new buildings. Architects can see what a space will look like in their heads; BIMx helps us to share this vision with our clients. We used Artlantis and ARCHICAD for the renders and also created interiors using ARCHICAD and Photoshop, which was very quick to do.”

BIM helped unleash a new level of creativity and daring design. “One of the biggest benefits of BIM was that it helped to push the design further than we would have gone before. Working in 3D, we were able to formally introduce things that were slightly more extravagant. And by collaborating closely with our structural and mechanical engineers, we were confident we would get it right.”

The awards have 12 categories; each is judged by a panel of experts in their fields, including leading developers, clients, architects and engineers. They will look at how the shortlisted case studies – each representing a specific design challenge faced on a project – demonstrate the quality of the teamwork and collaboration involved and how this led to the outstanding use of a product or material to meet the challenge or exceed the brief.

Winners will be announced on 15th February 2019.