It is an honor for Ahmedabad University that the university center, designed by Stephane Paumier Architects, has won the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) international award for excellence in 2024. The RIBA awards are recognized globally as celebrating outstanding work in architecture demonstrating design excellence, visionary thinking, and social impact.
The RIBA awards are decided through a rigorous process by a jury chaired by Simon Henley of the award-winning London-based architecture practice, Henley Halebrown. Each selected project is visited in person by an expert designated as a RIBA local ambassador. All the RIBA winners go on to be considered for the RIBA international prize for the world’s most transformative new building.
Within the center are housed incubation spaces, student services, a food court, and multipurpose spaces for sport, performance, and cinema, with a running track and futsal court located on the roof. Articulating the spirit behind the building, Ahmedabad University vice chancellor professor Pankaj Chandra says, “Academic buildings provide a perspective on how educational institutions define their engagement with the purpose and soul of the institution – the building of a student’s mind, its values, and their inter-relationship, as well as the space for imagination by its faculty. The university center sends the message that vibrant and meaningful learning outside the classroom must complement that inside. This is what transformative education is about! This is the value of academic buildings and their architecture.”
The university provides a contemporary educational framework that brings liberal arts, sciences, and professions together to engage in creating new knowledge for addressing the complex challenges of society and in offering majors that merge the boundaries of disciplines to prepare students for the new economy.