Video: Rough Luxe Hotel / Rabih Hage
Join Crane.tv on a tour of the Rough Luxe Hotel with architect and designer Rabih Hage. Flawlessly balanced between the artistic and the functional, the hotel intricately merges contemporary and antique furnishings. This unique layering between the modern and the traditional features from the original building create an truly opulent and bespoke atmosphere for any guest.
Apartment at Bow Quarter / Studio Verve Architects
Architect: Studio Verve Architects
Location: Bow Quarter, Fairfield Road, London, England
Structural Engineer: Engenuiti
Builder: Caldera Construction
Completion: 2012
Floor Area: 72 sqm
Project Team: Vivian Chan, Fernando Molines, Ula Witkowska
Photographs: Luke White
Video: Nathalie Rozencwajg of Rare Architecture on Town Hall Hotel
Architect Nathalie Rozencwajg tells Crane.tv the story behind the refurbishment of the imposing Town Hall that has been in the heart of the East End since Edwardian times. Now christened Town Hall Hotel & Apartments, the hotel is old-world elegant but with a modern touch.
Office Building in Soho / Wilkinson Eyre Architects
Architects: Wilkinson Eyre Architects
Location: Soho, London, England
Photographers: Tim Soar, Cinimod Studio, F&C Reit, Wilkinson Eyre Architects
Ada Street / Amin Taha Architects
Located off Broadway Market, south of London Fields in one of the poorer, but upcoming east-end areas, Ada Street accommodates six apartments above two small retail units in an area with the largest number of different languages spoken in the city with the largest population of artist per square kilometer in Europe. With creative shops, bars and clubs to reflect the Local Authority’s more relaxed approach to design aesthetics, Amin Taha Architects formed a structure asymmetrical in appearance with subtly battered and sloping walls and floor plates and a gentle scattering of window openings. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Robin Hood Gardens to be Demolished
After many years spent fighting to preserve the famous Robin Hood Gardens social housing complex in East London, the architecture community mourns another loss. Tower Hamlets Council and the London Thames Gateway Development Corporations have approved the demolition of the 1960s Brutalist complex in an effort to make way for a new £500 million sustainable development comprised of energy efficient, mixed-tenure homes and an enlarged central park. The historic building was built by modernist architects Alison and Peter Smithson and remains an important piece to Great Britain’s architectural history. Continue reading for more.
King’s Cross Station / John McAslan + Partners
Architect: John McAslan + Partners
Location: London, England
Project Year: 2012
Photographs: Hufton and Crow, John Sturrock, Phil Adams
Fabergé Big Egg Hunt Features Designs by Leading Architects
‘The Fabergé Big Egg Hunt’, launched on the 21st of February, has provided London, England with 209 giant and stunningly crafted Easter eggs, designed by artists, architects, jewelers and designers. The four presented here were designed by architects Zaha Hadid, Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, Fourfoursixsix and interior design firm Candy & Candy. The designs are unique, structural and conceptual. Thirty-one among the 200 will be chosen for a live auction on March 20th. The rest can be bid on on-line. The proceeds from the auction will go towards the £2million target for Action for Children, a charity for vulnerable and neglected children, young people and families, and Elephant Family, a charity for the endangered Asian elephant. This Easter egg hunt invites the whole public to participate in finding these eggs throughout the city; the scale of this event is set to break Guinness World Records for the most participants in an Easter egg hunt.
Read on to see the designs after the break.
6 Bevis Marks / Fletcher Priest Architects
Norman Foster’s Swiss Re Building will soon have a new neighbor! London-based practice Fletcher Priest Architects have designed a 16-story tower that will replace the existing, outdated 1980s office building. Now under construction, the new 230,000 square-foot office building at 6 Bevis Marks will reuse 50% of the original structure and be 80% more energy efficient than the current building. Continue reading for more.
UNStudio to move forward with 257 City Road
European real estate investment firm, Orion Capital Managers, teamed with development company, Groveworld, and received permission to move forward with a 30-storey tower for 257 City Road Basin in London. Designed by UNStudio, the tower will become a new landmark residential development with waterside vistas. Aref Lahham of Orion Capital explained, “The Canal Basin is being transformed into one of London’s most stylish waterside residential quarters…With such an exciting design, 257 City Road will be a highlight of this regeneration effort and a landmark for the area.”
More after the tower after the break.
Rivington Place / Adjaye Assocates
Architects: Adjaye Assocates
Location: London, England
Years: 2003 – 2007
Photographs: Lyndon Douglas, Ed Reeve, Adjaye Assocates
Video: Olympic Velodrome
The hot favourite for the annual 16th RIBA Stirling Prize, Hopkins Architects’ 2012 Olympics Velodrome is a hyperbolic structure with an impressive double-curved, ultra light roof covered in red cedar wood and inspired by the race tracks. Alongside aesthetic considerations, the Velodrome is constructed with utmost care for eco-sustainability. Crane.tv chats to engineers Andrew Weir at Expedition Engineering and Klaus Bode at BDSP to hear about how they created one of the Olympic Park’s most complete structures.
Competition to Design a Feature at Tent London
Tent London is holding a competition to offer 4 free feature spaces in their show, ‘Design Feature at Tent London’, to architects and designers who have a design or concept they would like to present to their 20,000 visitors. Their intent is to punctuate the halls with engaging installations that are also three-dimensional environments which clearly demonstrate the chosen concept; whether it be colour, material, light, human interaction, diversity etc. Concepts can be complex or simple, but must be clearly evident in the installation. The deadline for applications is March 16. For more information, please visit their website here.
LINA & GIO: THE LAST HUMANISTS: An Exhibit at the Architectural Association School of Architecture
Opening on February 24th at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, Lina & Gio: The Last Humanists will explore for the first time the relationship between two seminal figures in twentieth-century design: Lina Bo Bardi (1914-1992) and Gio Ponti (1891-1979). More details after the break.
The Shadow House / Liddicoat & Goldhill
Architect: Liddicoat & Goldhill
Location: London, UK
Site: 38a St. Paul’s Crescent, London, NW1 9TN
Client, Architect and Main Contractor: David Liddicoat & Sophie Goldhill
Structural Engineers: Peter Kelsey Associates
Completion date: Winter 2011
Gross internal floor area: 77 sqm
Total construction cost: £210,000
Photographers: Keith Collie, Tom Gildon
2012 Olympic Pavilion for BMW / Serie Architects
Serie Architects‘ proposal was recently selected as the design for the 2012 Olympic Pavilion for BMW following a sustainable design competition. Their cutting-edge design will represent a significant architectural addition to the Olympic Park, while reflecting the company’s deep commitment to sustainability. BMW’s pavilion, which has a floor space of 800m2, will be built on an elevated site above the Waterworks River, situated between the Olympic Stadium and the Aquatics Center. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The New Design Museum / John Pawson, OMA, West 8, Arup
John Pawson, OMA, West 8 and Arup were all asked to come together to design The New Design Museum in London. Their design will accommodate up to 500,000 visitors per year. Notable for its superb complex hyperbolic paraboloid copper roof intended by the architects to symbolize a tent in the park, it is regarded by English Heritage as the second most important modern building in London, after the Royal Festival Hall. Plans to bring the new design to fruition is scheduled to be completed by 2014. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei to design Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012
Today, the Serpentine Gallery announced the team that will design the twelfth edition of the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, a special edition that will be part of the London 2012 Festival, the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad.
Every year the gallery invites a renowned international architects who has not built yet in the UK, to design a temporary pavilion that hosts public activities in at the Gallery’s lawn, in London’s Hyde Park between June and October 2012. The list of architects for the past editions includes several Pritzker laureates. More info of this program at our Serpentine Gallery Pavilion infographic.
This years teams includes Pritzker laureate architects Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, and Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (runner up of TIME’s 2011 Person of the Year). The trio has worked together in projects such as ORDOS 100 in the Mongolian desert and the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008 Olympic Games. As a trio they don’t have any built projects in the UK, but Herzog & de Meuron have been involved in several, including the Tate Modern renovation and its current expansion.
Their design will explore the hidden history of the previous installations (more info), with eleven columns under the lawn of the Serpentine, representing the past pavilions and a twelfth column supporting a floating platform roof 1.5 metres above ground. Taking an archaeological approach, the architects have created a design that will inspire visitors to look beneath the surface of the park as well as back in time across the ghosts of the earlier structures.
55 Baker Street / Make Architects
Architects: Make Architects
Location: London, England
Client: London and Regional Properties Ltd
Collaborators: Arup, Blyth & Blyth, DP9, Expedition Engineering, Hann Tucker, HBG, Indigo Lighting, Jason Bruges Studio, Safe Consulting Ltd, Tweeds Construction Consultancy
Project Area: 75,000 sqm
Project Year: 2008
Photographs: Zander Olsen, Make Architects
Kohn Pedersen Fox Hosts Inaugural Exhibition: ‘Cities Unknown’
International architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) recenlty announced the inaugural exhibition at its new gallery space in central London, a celebration of the work of German artist and architectural photographer Hans‐Georg Esch. Shown in the UK for the first time, the exhibition presents a selection of photographs taken from Esch’s ‘Cities Unknown’ series. More images and information on the exhibition after the break.
