(left to right) Daniel Cardno (student) Vivian MacLean (CALA Home sales and marketing manager), Ross Murray (Stonehouse Property managing director) and Alexandra Dobes (student) with their winning design called City Gate.

The winning student designs of a conceptual challenge to create a vision of how to meet the future accommodation needs of corporate tenants have been unveiled.

Stonehouse Property, based in Bon Accord House on Riverside Drive, joined forces with the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and Built Environment on an innovative student project.

Architecture students from Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University were set the task of designing hypothetical apartments to house visiting oil workers in the city’s West End.

A group of 55 second year students worked in teams of three to design theoretical buildings on one of three sites in the Rubislaw Gardens area that would meet demand for high end accommodation for workers on short-term contracts in the North-east.

The winning design called City Gate came from Alexandra Dobes, Daniel Cardno and Lea Baranova who receive an iPad each as a reward from Stonehouse Property.

They produced an impressive monumental arch straddling Albyn Grove in the middle of Rubislaw Gardens which celebrates the enterprise and economic success of the oil industry.

It also includes retail space at the base of the property, two penthouses, a rooftop gym and health spa which all enjoy panoramic views of the city skyline.

The best interior living space design went to students Mirja-Anneli Kiviniemi, Martins Baiko and Kieran Gulhane. They have won vouchers for the Apple store from housebuilder CALA Homes who were also part of the judging panel.

Their proposal was extremely convincing and realistic, giving the viewer a distinct impression of the living space. They called it 360 Apartments.

Neil Lamb, senior lecturer at the Scott Sutherland School for Architecture and the Built Environment, thanked Stonehouse Property for driving the initiative forward and CALA Homes for being involved in the judging process.

“The project proposed by the winning team shows a remarkable level of maturity for students with only a year and half of architectural education,” he said.

“Their composition complements and enhances the neoclassical architecture surrounding the gardens whilst complying with the clients requirements for creating an exciting contemporary architectural design.

“All the students enjoyed the challenge of working with a real client and would like to thank Stonehouse Property for their time and support and CALA for their help as well.”

Stonehouse Property managing director Ross Murray, who was joined on the judging panel by CALA’s Vivian MacLean, declared the project a huge success not only for the students but the supporting businesses as well.

“The initiative was of real interest to Stonehouse Property as we were intrigued to see how the students would use their skills to create an end product for an oil and gas related project,” he said.

“There’s little doubt it has given them a practical edge to their studies and we’ve been extremely impressed with the results.”

Vivian MacLean, sales and marketing manager at CALA Homes, added: “We were excited to be a part of this competition as it really celebrates the emerging talent at RGU in an innovative way. The winning designs show much promise for the future of architectural design.”