The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the selection of nimtim architects with artist Katie Schwab for the Becontree Estate’s public realm commission. Looking to redesign 12 neglected and underused corner plots across the estate, the project reimagines these areas as new civic squares in East London.
For this end of the year special roundup, ArchDaily has compiled a selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture, submitted by established and well-known firms. Including conceptual, in progress and, even in some cases, under-construction projects, this curated list covers a wide spectrum of programs and approaches.
From KPF, Sasaki, COOKFOX, and FCBStudios to name a very few, this week’s article highlights worldwide interventions. It actually encompasses a terminal transformation in Manhattan, an integrated mixed-use development in Central Belfast, regeneration of an entire district in Shanghai, and the modernization of the infrastructure at Davis research station in Antarctica.
_johan_dehlin.jpg?1595351892)
The use of brick plays a very important role in the architectural history of the United Kingdom. Construction techniques that involve brick and stone have been in constant progress. In fact, brick production improved over time, making the material the most popular one in the construction industry. From the 18th century onwards, brickwork was predominantly used in domestic and industrial architecture, but later on, it was introduced to the structure of warehouses and factories, as well as other various forms of infrastructure.
While many of these buildings are still operating to this day, it comes as no surprise. Refurbishment and reuse are highly recommended techniques, and in many cases, the only methods to maintain densely populated European cities. Therefore, the challenge lays in reusing these buildings and recycling the materials available, always trying to retain as much of the original structure as possible.
Morris + Company’s affordable rental housing development has just been given planning permission by a virtual committee. Located in Barking and Dagenham, the modern 56 high-quality affordable rental homes are designed for “residents ranging from single occupants to couples and families”.
Groupwork, in collaboration with Jackson Coles, Eight Associates, Webb Yates, The Stonemasonry Company and Polycor, is investigating the possibilities to build large commercial buildings in stone, through the Stone Tower Research project and The New Stone Age exhibition.
Expected to open in autumn 2022, construction works began on Santander’s landmark new workplace in Milton Keynes. The campus entitled Unity Place, designed by LOM architecture and design, is a hub for digital banking innovation, bringing together, in one space, the 6,000 employees of Santander.
The National Railway Museum and Malcolm Reading Consultants revealed the final concepts for the new Central Hall, created by five small to medium-sized international and UK practices. Shortlisted in November 2019, the 5 teams include a collaboration between 6a architects from UK and OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen from Belgium, Atelier d’Architecture Philippe Prost from France, Carmody Groarke from the UK, Feilden Fowles from the UK, and Heneghan Peng Architects from Ireland.
Zaha Hadid Architects partnered up with Southbank Tower, for the company's first interior refurbishment project, in order to renovate the building’s lobby. The office structure, designed by Richard Seifert in 1972, had already gone through massive renovation works, led by KPF in 2015.
RIBA announced the 2020 RIBA International Prize jury and stated that it will be led by French architect and urban planner Odile Decq with the participation of Es Devlin, Jeanne Gang, Rossana Hu, and Gustavo Utrabo.
The Global Climate Strike is set to happen on the 20th of September 2019, just before the UN emergency climate summit, where people will disrupt their work to protest and advocate for actions against climate breakdown. Architects are joining on the march, through “Architects Advocate”, a movement encouraging the professionals of the industry to stand in solidarity with the rally.
The showpiece of a planned new development at Edinburgh Park will be UK-artist David Mach’s first-ever building, named “Mach 1” by the project’s developers and investors, Parabola. Working with Stirling Prize-nominated architects Dixon Jones, Mach’s building will be created from over 30 shipping containers - but not in the modular, linear method to which shipping container buildings typically lend themselves. Instead its sculptural shape is meant to draw attention to the new quarter and catch the public’s eye, especially those traveling by on the nearby tram.
New London Architecture has published the results of their annual Tall Building Survey. Now in its sixth year, the report declares 2019 as “The Year of the Tall Building” with a record number of 76 tall buildings set to be completed in the UK capital in 2019.
Among the key findings from the report, it was revealed that the completion of tall buildings is set to be three times higher than in 2018. There are currently 541 tall buildings in the pipeline for the capital, with 22 out of London’s 33 boroughs containing tall buildings under construction. These tall buildings will offer more than 110,000 new homes for a city with chronic housing shortages.
The Royal Institute of British Architects has announced the foundation of a new award focused on recognizing work in housing in the UK. The award is named in memory of Neave Brown, the British architect, and designer famed for his many housing estates in London.
The MK:U International Design Competition seeks world-class design teams for a new model university in the Oxford to Cambridge innovation arc.
Beloved by architects as the most original and successful of the mid-twentieth century’s wave of ‘New Towns’, and famously ‘different by design’, Milton Keynes (MK) has successfully reinvented itself as a ‘Smart City’ and is a key contributor to the United Kingdom’s knowledge economy.
This success has highlighted the need for a university — MK is the largest urban area in the UK without its own university — and to resolve this, MKC and Cranfield University, a global leader for postgraduate
British architect John Pawson is to be recognized for his services to design and architecture by the Queen, receiving a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2019 New Years Honours.
Venturi Scott-Brown’s National Gallery Sainsbury Wing extension (1991) was born into a precarious no-man’s land between the warring camps of neo-Modernists and traditionalists who had been tussling over the direction of Britain’s cities for much of the prior decade. The site of the extension had come to be one of the most symbolic battlefields in British architecture since a campaign to halt its redevelopment with a Hi-Tech scheme by Ahrends Burton Koralek had led to that project’s refusal at planning in 1984.
_photo_credit_-_Kalpesh_Lathigra.jpg?1614596399 "Becontree Estate. Image © Kalpesh Lathigra")
_Andrew_Meredith.jpg?1595351859 "© Andrew Meredith")
_Nigel_Rigden.jpg?1595352119 "© Nigel Rigden")
_Ben_Pipe.jpg?1595351948 "© Ben Pipe")
.jpg?1548937464 "Dunboyne Road Estate. via Wikimedia")
