News | Wednesday, 12th July 2006

Stephen Hodder awarded Honorary Degree

ACCLAIMED Manchester architect Stephen Hodder has received an honorary degree from Manchester Metropolitan University.

Stephen, who heads Hodder Associates, is one of a group of world class designers who have helped Manchester enter the premier league of architectural cities in Europe.

He was awarded the title Doctor of Arts at a degree ceremony for the Faculty of Art and Design at Bridgewater Hall, Manchester on Monday, 10 July.

Professor David Dernie, Head of Manchester School of Architecture, said: "Stephen Hodder is one of the country's foremost architects and MSA is recognising him for his contribution to architecture locally, nationally and internationally and his work with the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Manchester Society of Architecture and the Centre for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)."

Award-winner

A graduate of Manchester School of Architecture*, Stephen is a winner of the RIBA/Sunday Times ‘Building of the Year Award’ (1996) - the most important award in British architecture for a single building - for his Centenary Building at the University of Salford, described as “a fusion of design and technology”.

Hodder Associates, has now won 25 awards, most recently the Roses grand Prix Award and the RIBA Award for Berners Pool, Grange-over-Sands. His other work includes a stunning extension to St Catherine’s College, Oxford, the Corporation Street Footbridge, built after the 1996 IRA bomb, and the National Wildflower Centre, Knowsley.

Professionally he has been president of the Manchester Society of Architects, RIBA North West Chairman and a member of the CABE design review panel.

Stephen was awarded an MBE for services to architecture in 1998.

Relationship with MSA

Added Professor Dernie: "Stephen’s buildings and approach to design are an inspiration to students and staff at MSA and we look forward to his strategic advice as a key member of a Professional Board set up to reinforce the relationship between MSA, the profession and the city.

"His work sits within an alternative tradition in modern architecture: his buildings are finely detailed, sensitive to issues of site and scale and are refreshingly understated in an age of formal exuberance."

* Manchester School of Architecture is run jointly by Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Manchester. MSA recently ranked 2nd out of UK architecture schools in The Guardian University Guide 2006.

For more about courses, research and academic enterprise at Manchester School of Architecture, go to www.msa.mmu.ac.uk