OXFORD is a city famous for its architectural history, but it is not just civic buildings taking top honours.

A futuristic house in Hill Top Road, Cowley, was recognised alongside buildings at the Ashmolean and university colleges.

The Shulaman lecture theatre at Queen’s College and Somerville College student accommodation both won an 2012 Royal Institute of British Architects Award on Thursday. Other buildings, including the Egypt Galleries at the Ashmolean Museum were recognised.

Adrian James, the architect behind the Hill Top Road home, said: “It’s really nice to win these awards. This was a very special house. It wasn’t an easy build but it was well worth it in the end.”

The home sprung up in just over a week in 2010 and was constructed with giant concrete slabs, brought in on lorries.

The people behind the building said it had been designed to express the “base beauty of concrete” and includes a large glass front.

It was awarded with a RIBA Newland Award, a regional award for the South and South East.

Mr James said: “The inside of this house is completely made of smooth polished concrete, including the walls and ceilings.

“It arrived on the lorries and was then assembled like a pack of cards. It was a very special kind of thing.”

The £3m Shulaman lecture theatre at Queen’s College in High Street was completed in September.

Judges praised architects for creating a building that “conveys that rare quality of feeling as if it has always been there.”

It was among 58 buildings in the UK and Europe to receive the award and is now in the running for the RIBA Stirling Prize for building of the year.

Last night, Joelle Darby from architects Berman Guedes Stretton, based in Oxford, said: “This building works beautifully. It’s about shoehorning something into a very small space and making sure it worked practically. It is built to float above two listed garden walls and it sits very well in the area.”

New £8.5m accommodation at Somerville College now stands on the site of the old Radcliffe Infirmary.

It was finished in October and designed by London-based company Niall McLaughlin Architects.

RIBA president Angela Brady said: “The judges were delighted to see so many well considered, crafted and innovative projects, and the use of beautiful materials; these projects are truly exciting and inspiring.”

Oxford Civic Society chairman Peter Thompson said: “The fact that Oxford has won these awards will strengthen the case for planners insisting on high standards of design.

“It is good news for the city.”