The Small Animal Hospital designed by Archial Architects has been awarded the RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award 2009. From a shortlist of eleven projects the judges selected the Small Animal Hospital as a clear winner.
The judge’s citation:
“The new Small Animal Hospital is located at the entrance to the grounds of Garscube Estate and forms part of the University of Glasgow’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. It provides state of the art services for animal owners and referring practitioners.
Internally the building is simply organised both horizontally and vertically with a clear division of public and private hospital space. The working hospital, set behind the gabion wall, is focussed around a central treatment hub which acts as the heart of the building. There are clear and unrestricted views towards day-care, intensive care, operation suites, diagnostics and oncology.
The building is set unobtrusively into its setting, a massive grassed roof creating a new hillside within the landscape. The building’s great triumph is the unique and ingenious way it integrates a very substantial medical facility within the parkland setting of Glasgow University’s Garscube Estate. However, the rooftop ‘lantern’ and the boldly defined entrance ensure that this superb building declares its presence and scale. This is a highly complex work of architecture which sets new standards in the design of buildings for veterinary medicine.”
Graham Construction handed over the £10.5M facility to the University of Glasgow in May 2009.