16 September 2013 Last updated at 03:11 ET By Lucy Townsend BBC News Magazine Continue reading the main story

Built on a tight budget, Stirling Prize judges say the new development at the University of Limerick "punches well above its weight" in terms of design.

Prof Michael Larvin is in love. From his office on the top floor of the new Limerick Medical School, he gazes out at the grey limestone and the rolling countryside. Light floods his office and the dissected plastic bodies downstairs fit perfectly into their well-organised nooks.

"I'm a hard-nosed surgeon, I know nothing about architecture and have really never had any interest in it - but I'm having a love affair with this building," he says, misty-eyed.

"For the first time in my career I look forward to coming in in the morning and walking through the building and up to my office. Coming back from leave recently, I realised I had missed the building."

The new medical school, designed by Dublin-based Grafton Architects, is part of a wider redevelopment at the university.

Also in the running are Astley Castle, Bishop Edward King Chapel, Giant's Causeway Visitor Centre, Newhall Be and Park Hill Phase 1.

Grafton also designed three blocks of student housing, a bus stop and a public square, which sit together to create a space of calm order within what is otherwise widely regarded as "a hotchpotch university campus of disappointing sheds" - the verdict of the Guardian's art and design critic Oliver Wainwright.

All built for a budget of 13.25m euros (about 11m) the whole project ties together to form the Stirling Prize entry.

The judges described the buildings as "heroic" for their ability to appear strong and spacious, whilst being modest in size and lean in budget.

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Stirling Prize: University of Limerick Medical School