The first phase of a Budapest university campus designed by Dublin-based architecture firm O’Donnell + Tuomey is one of four projects in the running for the RIBA International Prize 2018.

The 375K SF Central European University scheme has created a new entrance building — housing a library, auditorium, teaching and learning facilities, study rooms and a café — and transformed and connected several previously separate buildings and courtyards to form a series of internal spaces and routes on the city centre campus.

“An open campus for a liberal-minded university, the project took us on a journey of discovery into the architectural, cultural and urban morphology of Budapest, involving us in sometimes sympathetic, sometimes controversial discussions with the city authorities during the design process," O’Donnell + Tuomey principals Sheila O’Donnell and John Tuomey said in a statement.

“We wanted the building to fit into its context, but to fit in by standing out. Now that it’s built, the project seems to be widely accepted and well understood as belonging to its place, a new part of the old city.”

The other shortlisted schemes are Children Village, a boarding school on the edge of the Amazon in Brazil, by Aleph Zero + Rosenbaum; Toho Gakuen School of Music, Tokyo, by Nikken Sekkei; and Il Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest), a residential tower in Milan, by Boeri Studio.

“The marker of a truly successful building is the positive contribution it makes to its local context and people," RIBA President Ben Derbyshire said. "All four of these projects thoroughly demonstrate visionary, innovative thinking and excellence of execution, and positively impacts the communities they have been designed for."

The winner will be announced at the end of November.

Launched in 2016, the RIBA International Prize is awarded every two years. The first winner was another Dublin firm, Grafton Architects, in 2016 for its university building, UTEC (Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología) in Lima, Peru.