First published in Architects Journal July 2011 / Copyright Stephen Best

Way-finding for the typically disorientated public almost becomes superfluous in this building. Materiality does much of the work. In the main foyer a hard stone mantle around each block denotes privacy, while the luscious warm oak staircases are naturally inviting.

Simple, clear architecture at this level is a rarity, particularly among young architects. Who, when confronted with their first major commission, isn’t tempted to throw every idea they ever had at it? But not in this case: Lee appears to have side-stepped many of the pitfalls. He shows unusual maturity in his use of materials, restrained palette and monolithic form, suggesting comparisons with the New Art Gallery Walsall by Caruso St John Architects, another breakthrough project.

As well as the rich palette, meticulous detailing and luxurious craftsmanship abound. There is none of the usual compromises or clumsy forgotten junctions. The building is sumptuously plain and enormously tactile; every joint meets perfectly or is separated by the finest shadow detail with distant echoes of Dom Hans van der Laan’s austere, yet beautiful 20th-century convent at Vaals in the Netherlands. It is an essay in controlled, no surprises architecture where nothing is left to chance, and its spatial dynamics are not enslaved by the detail.

As with any architectural project, there are imperfections. In this case it’s the urban design. The council offices and adjacent Department of the Environment, despite the green-field setting, appear incoherent; neither is located or has a landscape design which suggests cognition of the other. Each is self-contained, an independent island that demands, bizarrely, two parallel entrance roads at the front door. There is a missed opportunity where four lanes of tarmac, separated by a narrow planted sliver, remove any...