AD Classics: Trellick Tower / Erno Goldfinger
The Trellick Tower is an iconic structure located in west London, England. It has gone through numerous phases of public perception, most notably its notorious nickname as the “Tower of Terror.” Designed as social housing for the local council, it features numerous unconventional design elements. Architect Erno Goldfinger, drew inspiration from the modernist principles of Le Corbusier’s Unite d’Habitation for the tower’s dwelling units. More details after the break.
In Progress: King’s Cross Station / John McAslan + Partners
“It’s incredible to watch the reinvention of the station taking shape into a compelling piece of place-making for London. You can already see how the Western Concourse – Europe’s largest single span station structure and the heart of the development – reconnects this much-loved Victorian terminus to its context. It’s immensely satisfying to see the project move forward at such pace and we look forward to celebrating the project’s completion in 2012 for the London Olympics.”-John McAslan, Chairman John McAslan + Partners
Architect: John McAslan + Partners
Location: London, England
Photographs: Courtesy of John McAslan + Partners, Hufton Crow, John Sturrock
Power in Space Conference
Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, in collaboration with Buro Happold are hosting an international conference this autumn and have invited an exciting range of speakers all of whom have great experience transforming old buildings for use in contemporary culture and performance.
Speakers include – from architects: Eric Parry, Steve Tompkins, Liza Fior; from project directors from the Tate, the RST and the V&A Futureplan; from international guests working in Versailles and Venice. And of course we have Peter Clegg from FCBS and Mike Cook from Buro Happold talking about the transformative power of space.
The early bird rate for tickets runs until September 20th. For more information, visit there website here.
Atrium / Studio RHE
Architects: Studio RHE
Locations: London, England
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: Bjarte Rettedal
AD Classics: Robin Hood Gardens / Alison and Peter Smithson
Robin Hood Gardens is a social housing complex in East London in the residential area of Poplar. It was designed by architects Alison and Peter Smithson and completed in 1972. The Brutalist buildings stand as an example of the Smithsons’ theories in practice. Practices that today face an uncertain future. More information after the break.
London Aquatics Centre for 2012 Summer Olympics / Zaha Hadid Architects
Architects: Zaha Hadid Architects
Location: London, England
Client: Olympic Delivery Authority
Main Contractor: Balfour Beatty
Project Team: Alex Bilton, Alex Marcoulides, Barbara Bochnak, Carlos Garijo, Clay Shorthall, Ertu Erbay, George King, Giorgia Cannici, Hannes Schafelner, Hee Seung Lee, Kasia Townend, Nannette Jackowski, Nicolas Gdalewitch, Seth Handley, Thomas Soo, Tom Locke, Torsten Broeder, Tristan Job, Yamac Korfali, Yeena Yoon
Project Area: 15,950 sqm (Legacy), 21,897 sqm (Olympic)
Project Year: 2011
Photographs: Hélène Binet, Hufton + Crow
Tex-Tonic House 1 / Paul McAneary Architects
Architects: Paul McAneary Architects
Location: Victoria, London
Project Year: 2010
Project Area: 466 sqm
Photographs: Paul McAneary Architects Ltd
The clients brief in this invited competition was to design two apartments on the top floor of the existing Central London post office and Phillips de Pury art action house in Victoria, London. The client expressed a wish for large volume ‘loft’ spaces and his desire for a contemporary design and functionality. Paul McAneary Architects’ response won the competition with a proposal for expressed natural tectonics through numerous new details, and even developing a new material type of cast timber bronze.
The Emirates Glass LEAF Awards 2011
Entries from across the globe have flooded in, with some of the world’s most iconic buildings being shortlisted to set the benchmark for the Architectural world in 2011. This year looks set to be the toughest competition yet. With practices flying in from all over the globe, The Emirates Glass LEAF Awards 2011 is now regarded by many of the world’s architectural community as the annual event for viewing quality international design and build projects.
The awards will be celebrated and honored at London’s Landmark Hotel on September 16th, 2011 for the buildings and design solutions that are setting the benchmark for the future of architecture and design. The Architectural community from across the globe will gather at The Emirates Glass LEAF Awards which will double up as an international networking event. This gathering of industry experts will include a judging panel comprising of key individuals drawn from various areas of the international architectural design and construction community. More images and the complete shortlist awards after the break.
[AC-CA] Architectural Competition – [LONDON] Olympic Games Information Pavilion Winning Entries
[AC-CA] has shared the results of the London Olympic Games Information Pavilion International Competition. This idea’s competition was hosted to generate progressive contemporary design solutions and promote architecture experimentation, specuation and discussion. The site of the competition was Trafalgar Square in the heart of London. The ten winning entries were selected out of a total of 164 proposals that were submitted from all over the world.
Read on for a closer look at the selected entries after the break.
Atrium / Studio RHE
Atrium’s recent design move from modern furniture supply to fine lighting was celebrated and explained through a carefully choreographed space designed by Studio RHE. The result was an interactive open space with central reception that could easily be transformed into a darkened showroom – with a little twist.
Read on for more after the break.
Barbican Foodhall and Lounge / SHH
SHH’s redesigns of the Barbican’s restaurants have won three major design awards in the space of just two weeks. Barbican Foodhall the new ground floor restaurant and deli and Barbican Lounge the first floor bar and restaurant were both named as winners in at the 2011 Restaurant & Bar Design Awards, held last week at the East Wintergarden in Canary Wharf, whilst the Barbican Lounge won a further award at the end of June in Monte Carlo at the 2011 International Hotel & Property Awards.
Architects: SHH
Location: London, United Kingdom
Photographs: Courtesy of SHH
Extension of the National Maritime Museum / C. F. Møller Architects
Architects: C. F. Møller Architects
Location: London, United Kingdom
Project Area: 7,300 sqm
Project Year: 2011
Photographs: Julian Weyer, National Maritime Museum
Architecture City Guide: London
This week, with the help of our readers, our Architecture City Guide is headed to London. This is our second stop in Europe, and once again I had to capitulate and double the number of buildings that we normally feature. We could not feature all of the suggestions, and will be adding to the list in the near future. We really appreciate those readers who offered their suggestions and the use of their pictures to make up this list.
Samuel Johnson famously said, “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.” As home to a long tradition of kings and queens, the Royal Society, and the roots of the Industrial Revolution, it is not surprising that there is a rich tension and collaboration between the historic and contemporary architecture in London. This reflects a city and culture that has a strong history of celebrating the past while also moving forward. Conflicts often emerge, as the goals of one side clash with those of the other. This relationship, however, is why I find walking the streets of London so appealing - those beautiful moments when history and progress collide.
Once again, thanks to all our readers for your help. We encourage you to add more of your favorites in the comment section below.
The Architecture City Guide: London list and corresponding map after the break.
The Architectural Association Foster + Partners Prize
The Architectural Association and Foster + Partners are pleased to announce the award of the Foster + Partners Prize, which is presented annually to the AA Diploma student whose portfolio best addresses the themes of sustainability and infrastructure. The recipient is selected jointly by the AA and Foster + Partners at the end of each academic year. This year’s prize has been awarded to Aditya Aachi, of Diploma Unit 7, for his project Haiti Simbi Hubs. The project proposes sanitation infrastructure for Haiti and draws on the unprecedented need for cooperation between the Haitian Government and NGOs to combat cholera outbreaks. Read more at Foster + Partners.
Help us with our Architecture City Guide: London
Next week we will be taking our Architecture City Guide to London and we need your help. To make the City Guides more engaging we are asking for your input on which designs should comprise our weekly list of 12. In order for this to work we will need you, our readers, to suggest a few of your favorite modern/contemporary buildings for the upcoming city guide in the comment section below. Along with your suggestions we ask that you provide a link to an image you took of the building that we can use, the address of the building, and the architect. (The image must be from a site that has a Create Common License cache like Flickr or Wikimedia. We cannot use images that are copyrighted unless they are yours and you give us permission.) From that we will select the top 12 most recommended buildings. Hopefully this method will help bring to our attention smaller well done projects that only locals truly know. With that in mind we do not showcase private single-family residences for obvious reasons. Additionally, we try to only show completed projects.
This week we are headed to London, England.
Example:
Swiss Re Building / Foster & Partners
30 St Mary Axe, City of London,United Kingdom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:30_St_Mary_Axe_from_Leadenhall_Street.jpg
Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2011 / Peter Zumthor
The 2011 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion by Pritzker laureate Peter Zumthor was unveiled today. A design that ‘aims to help its audience take the time to relax, to observe and then, perhaps, start to talk again – maybe not’, the materials are significant in aiding the design which emphasizes the role the senses and emotions play in our experience of architecture.
Zumthor added that ‘the concept for this year’s Pavilion is the hortus conclusus, a contemplative room, a garden within a garden. The planted garden enclosed by this dark structure was conceived by the influential Dutch designer Piet Oudolf.
The building acts as a stage, a backdrop for the interior garden of flowers and light. Through blackness and shadow one enters the building from the lawn and begins the transition into the central garden, a place abstracted from the world of noise and traffic and the smells of London – an interior space within which to sit, to walk, to observe the flowers. This experience will be intense and memorable, as will the materials themselves – full of memory and time.’
More info after the break:
Video: Tadao Ando Water Installation
Located just outside of the Connaught Hotel in London’s Mayfair district is Tadao Ando’s latest work. The iconic Japanese architect’s water installation is best described as ‘liquid sliding over glass lenses’. The pool surface is covered with a series of glass lenses that sit just below the water, and on intervals steam arises nearly masking the mature trees that sit within the installation. Ando’s piece is one of the most recent additions to Mayfair which has experienced numerous refurbishment projects creating a resurgence in this part of the city.
Source: bdonline
Times Eureka Pavilion / Nex Architecture
Architects: Nex Architecture / Alan Dempsey, Paul Loh, Michal Piasecki, Tomasz Starczewski, James Chung
Location: London, United Kingdom
Client: The London Times, Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew
Collaborators: Marcus Barnett Landscape Design, Buro Happold Engineering
Project Year: 2011
Photographs: Courtesy of Nex Architecture
W London Leicester Square / Jestico + Whiles
Architects: Jestico + Whiles
Location: London, England
Client: McAleer & Rushe Group
M&E Engineers: Caldwell Consulting
Building Contractor: McAleer & Rushe Group
Project Manager: McAleer & Rushe Group
QS/Cost Consultant: McAleer & Rushe Group
Structural Engineer: Ian Black Consulting
Façade Consultant: Billings Design Associates Ltd
Fire Engineer: Michael Slattery & Associates
Façade Artist: Jason Bruges Studio Ltd
Project year: 2011
Photographs: Courtesy of Jestico + Whiles
20 Houses: A New Residential Landscape – The 2011 Wallpaper* Architects Directory at the AF
The annual Wallpaper* Architects Directory, now in its twelfth year, provides the ultimate little black book to the world’s most promising young practices. For this year’s Directory, Wallpaper* selected twenty studios from around the world. Each was given an open brief to design the ultimate rural retreat. These twenty houses were designed to be flexible and functional, but also formally and technically innovative, sitting on an isolated countryside site. The only sanction was the need for the homes to touch the ground lightly, with minimum disruption to the landscape.
This exhibition, in The Architecture Foundation’s Project Space, unites the featured architects, showcasing all twenty bespoke homes in a single show; a swirling, imaginary topography, designed by emerging UK-based practice Naja de Ostos, who conceived the installation as a blossoming abstracted landscape. Selected highlights of the Wallpaper* Architects Directory and the full list of twenty practices will be revealed in the magazine’s July 2011 issue, and featured in full on wallpaper.com from the exhibition’s opening day.
As part of the exhibition programme, Wallpaper* and The Architecture Foundation have invited a selection of the practices from the 2011 Directory to take part in a series of talks, using the theme of built/unbuilt to explore the relationship between real world commissions and the ideas and approaches that arose out of the open brief for the Directory commission.
The exhibition will run from June 9 to July 14. The talk dates are June 14 and July 5. For more information, including ticket, please click here.
Stoke Newington School and Sixth Form / Jestico + Whiles
Architects: Jestico + Whiles – Alex Gordon
Location: London, England
Client: Media Arts and Science College
Structural engineer: Mouchel Parkman, Brian Bonnett
Landscaping: Place Design + Planning, Rupert Dehaene – Gold
Project manager: Mouchel Babcock Education, Thomas Baxter
Photographs: Tim Crocker
