John Pardey Architects sent us this great second house on the village of Burley, England. The concept was based on the idea of creating a building that respects the nature of vernacular buildings by avoiding a single form in favour of what may be seen as an assemblage of forms, akin to the typology of farm buildings.
The Lightbox and Tent London has selected Brooklyn‐based Tina Manis Associates from among a group of five finalists to design The Art Fund Pavilion.
The Pavilion will initially appear as part of Tent London’s exhibit at the London Design Festival 2009 before taking up residence at The Lightbox as an annual summer pavilion and gallery space. The structure is to be engineered and constructed by Facit and funded by the Lightbox Museum’s £100,000 Art Fund Prize 2008.
More images and architect’s description after the break. read more »
Our friend Pierre Forissier, from Cre8 Architecture, shared with us their entry for the Art Fund Pavillion Competition London 2009.
“Panelion” was selected as an exception entry and will be exhibited at The Lightbox London.
More images and architect’s description, after the break. read more »
A group of ten architects, including Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, and Frank Gehry, signed a letter criticizing Prince Charles for talking against the construccion of luxury houses in Chelsea Barracks, London.
Prince Charles is against the modern design with glass and steel used by architects in the Chelsea district, and wants them to use a more traditional design using stones and bricks. The Sunday Times also said that Prince Charles showed his concern to Qatar’s royal family, owner of the site.
The design was developed by Richard Rogers, member of the House of Lords and known for projects like Heathrow’s Terminal 5, the Millenium Dome in London and the European Court of Human Rights. Rogers, with the other ten architects, accused Prince Charles of taking advantage of his royalty position to attack the architectural plans of the site.
This isn’t the first time that Prince Charles enters the architectural debate, strong supporter of Leon Krier’s New Urbanism.
Full text of the public letter to Prince Charles:
THE Prince of Wales’s intervention over the design of the former Chelsea Barracks site deserves more reasoned comment. It is essential in a modern democracy that private comments and behind-the-scenes lobbying by the prince should not be used to skew the course of an open and democratic planning process that is under way.
Proposals by Richard Rogers’s practice for the developers Qatari Diar were recently submitted for planning to Westminster city council. The scheme has been adapted and changed in response to comments from Westminster’s planning officers and extensive local consultation. Statutory bodies such as the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and the Greater London Authority have also been consulted. Westminster’s planning committee will meet and shortly deliver its verdict.
Its members should be left alone to decide whether the Rogers’s scheme is a fitting 21st-century addition to the fabric of London. The developers have chosen carefully in selecting the best architect for the sensitive project. Rogers and his team have played their part in engaging with the democratic process. The prince and his advisers should do the same. The process should be allowed to take its course; otherwise we risk condemning this critical site to years as an urban blight.
If the prince wants to comment on the design of this or any other project, we urge him to do so through the established planning consultation process. Rather than use his privileged position to intervene in one of the most significant residential projects likely to be built in London in the next five years, he should engage in an open and transparent debate.
Lord Foster, Foster and Partners, London, Pritzker Prize 1999
Zaha Hadid, Zaha Hadid Architects, London, Pritzker Prize 2004
Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, Pritzker Prize 2001
Jean Nouvel, Jean Nouvel Architectes, Paris, Pritzker Prize 2008
Renzo Piano, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Genoa, Pritzker Prize 1998
Frank Gehry, Gehry Partners, Los Angeles, Pritzker Prize 1989
Sir Nicholas Serota, Commissioner, CABE 1999-2006
Richard Burdett, London School of Economics
David Adjaye, Adjaye Associates, London
Deyan Sudjic, Director, Design Museum, London
Urban Age Public Debate Series presents “Architecture as Investment, New Forms of Social Equity”, with ELEMENTAL‘s Executive Director Alejandro Aravena.
The challenge to provide affordable housing is a global issue. At a time when market forces are eclipsing architecture’s social value, ELEMENTAL’s pioneering housing is transforming urban communities in Latin America.
Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena is a Professor at the Universidad Católica de Chile and Executive Director of ELEMENTAL, a ‘do tank’ addressing questions outside the traditional realm of architecture.
The debate will take place Monday 27 April, between 18:30 and 20:00 in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE.
Presented with support from the Cities Programme at the LSE and Monocle magazine.
A month ago, we announced that architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, of the leading Japanese practice SANAA, were chosen to design the Serpentine Gallery Pavillion 2009, in the UK. Yesterday, SANAA released the first rendering of their design.
SANAA: “The pavilion is floating aluminum, drifting freely between the trees like smoke. The reflective canopy undulates across the site, expanding the park and sky. Its appearance changes according to the weather, allowing it to melt into the surroundings. It works as a field of activity with no walls, allowing views to extend uninterrupted across the park and encouraging access from all sides. It is a sheltered extension of the park where people can read, relax and enjoy lovely summer days.”
Seen at Bustler.
Ian Simpson Architects with Adams Kara Taylor Engineers and Hoare Lea Engineers has been announced as winners of the competition to design a new innovative, architecturally striking educational, conference and seed production complex at the National Wildflower Centre in Knowsley, part of the Liverpool City Region which is intended to be one of the first buildings in the country to be rated BREEAM “Outstanding”.
Seen at bustler. Images of the other five shortlisted practices, after the break. read more »
Easily regarded as one of the most adroit architects of 20th century, Le Corbusier was a relentless designer, urban planner and writer dedicated to industrializing almost every city he came across.
This spring The Barbican – London’s colossal multi-arts venue – is hosting an all-encompassing showcase of Le Corbusier’s work, a survey which will include an abundance of original models, interior settings, drawings, furniture, photographs, films, tapestries, paintings, sculpture and books designed and written by the architect himself. More of a celebration than an exhibition, the festivities include concerts, films, guest speakers and a photo competition all in his honor.
Seen at coolhunting.
A great factory reconversion by British practice Dow Jones Architects with a great mixture of brick, wood and concrete.
Architect’s description and more images after the break.
The Serpentine Gallery is delighted to announce that the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009 will be designed by architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, of the leading Japanese practice SANAA. Sejima and Nishizawa’s Pavilion will be the architects’ first built structure in the UK and the ninth commission in the Gallery’s annual series of Pavilions, the world’s first and most ambitious architectural programme of its kind. The Pavilion will open in July on the Serpentine Gallery’s lawn, where it will remain until October.
Julia Peyton-Jones, Director, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director, Serpentine Gallery, said: “It is our dream come true to be working with world-leading architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA. Their work will be a wonderful addition to the Pavilion series, the only commission of its kind worldwide that annually gives preeminent architects their debut in this country and brings the best of contemporary architecture to London for everyone to enjoy.”
For more information, go to the Serpentine Gallery official website, here.
The London architecture firm Sarah Wigglesworth Architects have finished a bike store in Bermondsey, London. The structure can store 76 bikes in two levels, using a system designed by bicycle rack producers Josta.
The building is constructed from 13 portal frames, clad externally with triangular, stainless-steel panels and internally with translucent, glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) sheeting. The structure will provide secure shelter for residents and workers in the Bermondsey Square area.
Photos by Mark Hadden Photography. More images, after the break. read more »
The Imperial War Museum North in Manchester, England, was designed by Daniel Libeskind and completed in 2001. The museum was mainly sorrounded by a plain exterior, occupied by a parking lot. The canal-side building is planning a new design landscape and collected proposals from several firms in a competition. The entries have come to five finalists, from which the final design should be chosen this March.
The finalists are:
KLA (UK)
White arkitekter ab (Sweden)
Patel Taylor (UK)
Topotek 1 (Germany)
Field Operationes (US)
Seen on designboom. The proposals, after the break. read more »
British practice Dow Jones Architects sent us this house renovation with a good use of brick.
More images and drawings after the break.
Architects: Fraser Brown MacKenna Architects
Location: London, England
Client: The Peabody Trust
Design team: Fraser Brown MacKenna Architects; Ellis & Moore (Structural Engineering); Max Fordham LLP (Building Services)
Contractor: Sandwood Construction
Design year: 2001-2005
Construction year: 2006-2007
Photographs: James Morris
In October 2007, Dow Jones Architects won an architectural competition to redesign the museum. The competition brief asked for a new gallery space where temporary exhibitions could be housed in secure and environmentally-controlled conditions.
Text description and more photographs and drawings after the break.
In 2006, Foundation Greenland Street invited Office for Subversive Architecture to develop the first of their annual architecture commissions which will inhabit the roof of The Blade Factory.
More pictures by Johannes Marburg and text form the architects after the break.
ROSO has launched a major art installation at Clark Shoes Headquarters in Street Somerset, South England. This was commissioned by Mr Lance Clark and is the first phase of two, of the art work situated in the communal court yard in the heart of Clarks office buildings.
The University of Sheffield’s state-of-the-art music practice and studio facility, the Soundhouse, is now complete. The striking development, conceptually designed by careyjones architects and delivered by Jefferson Sheard Architects, is completely enveloped in black rubber – a technique never seen before in the UK.
More info & pictures after the break.
Foster + Partners just informed us that the new Willis headquarters at Lime Street in London is complete. As usual, the firm lead by Sir Norman Foster developed a urban piece that integrates with the city at street level and features environmental strategies to reduce its energy consumption and carbon footprint.
This two buildings are developed as a series of overlapping curved shells while its section is arranged in three steps. The roof terraces overlooking the plaza on the lower two steps are directly accessible from the office spaces. Both buildings have a central core to provide open floor plates and maximum flexibility in use.
The entire development is visually unified by its highly reflective façade. The pressed form of the panels and their mica finish give them depth and texture. A dynamic effect is established through the interplay of solid and glazed panels arranged in a saw-tooth pattern, the fins also increase insulation while reducing glare
and solar gain.
Together with the highly efficient services equipment and systems in the building, the façade design is integral to the energy strategy, which is rated BREEAM Excellent. What surprised me is the parking capacity: 42 Cars, 88 motorcycles, 264 bicycles
According to Sir Norman Foster this building has come out of a very different design process, yet continues the practice’s commitment to developing humane, flexible and dynamic workplaces that are both informed by, and woven into, the urban fabric. Foster has some very interesting approaches when it comes to sustainable design and urban spaces. I recommend checking his presentation at DLD we posted last week.
And now, some pictures and facts.
Architects: Alison Brooks Architects – Alison Brooks, Michael Woodford
Location: Wandsworth, South London, UK
Client: Alex Wingate
Area: 400sqm per house
Construction start: Junio 2005
Completion: Diciembre 2006
Phase 1 contractor: Unimead Ltd
Phase 2 contractor: Kaymac Construction
Structural Engineer: Price & Myers
Mechanical and Electrical/Health & Safety: Peter Deer & Associates
Quantity Surveryor: Carruth Marshall Partnership
Photos: Cristóbal Palma
Architecture Humanitarian Emergencies / Jorge Lobos
2/3 of the world population have no link to professional architecture, it means 4.400.000.000 of people has not relation with academic knowledge of architecture. This book tries to explain how this knowledge can come to everywhere of our planet and…
Old Buildings, New Designs / Charles Blosziers
It is hard not to want to pick up this book and start reading with the project displayed on the front cover. Fantastic! This book grapples with the issue of how to marry old buildings with new design. The book…
Alvar Aalto: The Mark of the Hand / Harry Charrington and Vezio Nava
A short time ago we received the book Alvar Aalto: The Mark of the Hand. Before you Aalto fans get jealous of our newly acquired treasure, we want you to know that we received several copies and will be doing…
