Cohen Quad wins World Architecture Festival award

Cohen Quad, viewed from Worcester Place. Photo by Fran Monks

Cohen Quad, Exeter’s new site on Walton Street designed by Alison Brooks Architects, has won the Higher Education and Research Completed Building of the Year Award at the World Architecture Festival. The Festival is one of the most prestigious annual award ceremonies in architecture, recognising the world’s best future and completed designs across 31 categories including higher education, culture, health, community, religion, and sport.

On hearing the news Professor Sir Rick Trainor, Exeter College Rector, said: “I am delighted that Cohen Quad has been named Higher Education and Research Building of the Year at the World Architecture Festival. The award, to this truly beautiful building, recognises the contribution of countless people who made Cohen Quad a reality, not least Alison Brooks and her team. It also recognises the exceptional facilities that our students now enjoy at Cohen Quad, thanks in no small part to the generosity of alumni and other donors.”

Cohen Quad was also shortlisted for the World Architecture Festival’s World Building of the Year Award. That award was ultimately presented to WOHA Architects for Kampung Admiralty in Singapore, a dynamic community development for elderly people that includes a tropical rainforest growing on rooftops and up its walls.